Toolbox murder accused confessed to police twice in 24 hours

The prosecutor in the trial of a man alleged to have murdered two drug dealers, who were forced into a toolbox and dumped in a creek, says the accused’s actions prove he only had one intent.

A MAN accused of murdering two drug dealers, who were forced into a toolbox and dumped in a creek, confessed to police twice within 24 hours, a court has been told.

Cory Breton’s and Iuliana Triscaru’s decomposing bodies were found in a large metal box at Scrubby Creek, south of Brisbane, on February 11, 2016.

Tuhirangi-Thomas Tahiata, 28, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the pair after they were lured to a townhouse in Kingston 18 days earlier and assaulted by a group of his mates.

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Police retrieve the large metal toolbox containing the victims’ bodies.

But prosecutor David Meredith says the concrete worker confessed to detectives twice during interviews and a jury should convict him.

“If you put someone in a locked toolbox … and put it in water so it sinks, then you can have only one intent and that is the intent to kill,” he told the Brisbane Supreme Court during his closing argument.

Mr Meredith said Tahiata first confessed to detectives on February 10 and initially told them he had acted alone, saying he wouldn’t “snitch” on his friends.

“(But) after sitting in the watch-house overnight, 24 hours or so, he calls back (the officers) and tells what the prosecution says is not only the logical story, but the true story,” he said.

Cory Breton and Iuliana Triscaru spent their final moments screaming for help, sinking into Scrubby Creek, nearby the Logan Motorway, on January 24, 2016.

Mr Meredith reminded the jury Tahiata had admitted to helping load the toolbox on to his Toyota Hilux ute at the townhouse before driving it to the creek with a man named Trent Thrupp.

“When he hears (Thrupp) say ‘time to die’ he knows, if he doesn’t already know, (Thrupp) intends to kill (Mr Breton and Ms Triscaru) and he does nothing except help,” Mr Meredith said.

Tahiata may not have thought up the idea to take the pair to the creek, and he may not have had a motive or put the toolbox in the water, he said.

“But he’s still guilty of murder.”

A sketch of murder accused Tuhirangi-Thomas Tahiata in Brisbane Supreme Court this week. Illustration: Michael Felix/AAP

Defence lawyer Chris Minnery told the jury Tahiata’s confessions shouldn’t be taken seriously.

“The Crown has effectively said ‘look, he confessed, that’s it, tools down’ but it’s not as simple as that,” he said.

Mr Minnery said what Tahiata had actually done was tell detectives some “ridiculous and extremely silly” stories and recounted his client’s various statements to police.

Tahiata was probably nervous, scared, stoned, exhausted and overwhelmed having never been arrested before, he said.

Mr Minnery said the Crown had presented a case with very few actual facts and it had no eyewitnesses to what happened at the creek.