Glen John Tipler in court charged with for the murder of former partner Adam Marriott
A man accused of murdering his former lover by setting him alight with petrol allegedly earlier warned his victim “you’re going to need more than your f**king powers to stop me”, a jury has heard.
A man accused of murdering his former lover by setting him alight with petrol allegedly earlier warned his victim “you are going to f**king die”, a jury has heard.
Glen John Tipler is standing trial in the Supreme Court in Brisbane before Acting Justice Anne Lyons.
He has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his ex partner Adam Marriott on February 9, 2022, and argues Marriott started the fire at Tipler’s rented Coomera home around 10pm.
“The defendant’s claim that Adam started the fire is not true,” Crown Prosecutor Dejana Kovac told the jury in her opening address to the jury.
She alleges the fire was not started using Marriott’s lighter, as alleged by the defence, because he left it on the seat of his waiting Uber when he went to confront Tipler about his dog, who he believed was at the townhouse.
“F**king narcistic, using, cheating dogc**t. You are going to fucking die and you’re going to f**king need more than your f**king powers to stop me. One bullet to the head should do it,” Tipler allegedly told his ex partner in an earlier text message.
Ms Kovac told the jury that Marriott burned to death in the fire lit at Leichhardt St by Tipler around 10pm, and that Marriott held a lifelong fear that he would die in this painful way.
She told the jury that witnesses during the trial would testify that Tipler and Marriott had broken off a “long troubled on-again off-again relationship marked by domestic violence” a month before Marriott died.
“Your ganna (sic) try kill me like you told me you would if I left,” Marriot texted Tipler two weeks before he was allegedly murdered.
Ms Kovac told the jury that witnesses would tell them that Tipler tried to kill Marriott three days earlier by taking a bucket of petrol to the new home where Marriott was living, but did not carry out his plan because other people were there.
She submitted that Tipler was stalking Marriott using a fake Grindr profile, and accused Marriott of cheating on him, and Tipler had been using his phone to “track Adam’s movements” when they were still dating.
Marriott’s charred body was found laying on his back in the foetal position in a corner of the living room at Tipler’s Coomera home on February 9, about 2m from the kitchen and 2m from a sliding door, the jury heard.
Fire investigators found the blaze started in the kitchen.
“He suffered extensive burns, nearly across every part of his body,” Ms Kovac said.
“Most of his clothing had burned away and only small fragments remained.
“Adam was moving … while he was on fire through different parts of the unit.
“Adam was breathing in smoke while the fire was burning,” she told the jury.
Tipler was later found by police at a work colleague’s home at Sheldon in the City of Redlands, with significant burns.
He allegedly told paramedics: “I’ve had a really shit day, my house has burned down and my partner is dead”, Ms Kovac submitted.
“My partner attacked me, there was a fire and now they are dead,” Tipler allegedly told paramedics.
Tipler later allegedly told police later at hospital that Marriott ignited a bucket of petrol which was in the kitchen, after trying to turn on the gas stove by holding his lighter.
Tipler told police there was a burst of flames, he was engulfed and Marriott was still alive and yelled threats at him, as Tipler left the unit.
Tipler told officers that Marriott arrived uninvited at his home, that Marriott was “depressed and armed with a knife” and there was some pushing and shoving.
Defence counsel David Funch submitted the real issue in the trial that the jury must infer from the evidence was what happened inside the townhouse in the seconds and minutes before the fire.
“Pay attention to the physical evidence concerning the gas stove, and the physical items. in the kitchen in close proximity to Mr Marriott,” Mr Funch said.
“Mr Marriott’s previous declarations of intent may be highly relevant,” he said.
“Did Mr Tipler do what he did in order to defend himself from a perceived threat by Mr Marriott?” Mr Funch said.
“In the seconds before the fire, what was Mr Tipler actually intending to do?” he said.
“What was he trying to achieve?” he said.
“What is critical is the sequence of events that happened immediately before the fire and death,” Mr Funch said.
“Was the death actually caused by something that Mr Tipler did, or was it caused by something Mr Marriott did? The cause of the fire,” Mr Funch said.
The trial is due to run for 10 days.
