Victims suffered ‘horrific beatings’ before being stuffed in toolbox, court told

Harrowing details of the final hours of two drug dealers, who were stuffed in a toolbox and thrown into a dam, have been revealed with a witness saying a victim had a zip tie around her neck and was ‘choking on her own blood’.

Police retrieve a large metal toolbox from a dam near Scrubby Creek, Kingston, four years ago. Picture: Jono Searle

HARROWING details of the final hours of two drug dealers, who were stuffed in a toolbox and thrown into a dam, have been revealed during a double-murder trial being held in Queensland today.

Cory Breton and Iuliana Triscaru were killed on January 24, 2016 at Kingston after a miscommunication over drugs.

Tuhirangi-Thomas Tahiata is on trial for the killings and has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

He is alleged to have been a party to the deaths alongside several other people who have been charged over the deaths.

The court has previously heard a photograph of another man – Stou Daniels – is key to the case.

The bodies of Iuliana Triscaru and Cory Breton were found in a large metal toolbox.

Breton’s friend Lelan Colin Michael Harrington is today giving evidence in the trial.

He told the jury he had been sentenced for deprivation of liberty and assault over his role in the horrific beatings, which he detailed from the stand on Thursday.

Mr Harrington told the jury another man he lived with had bought the toolbox, which the pair were later stuffed in, about a week before the killings.

Mr Harrington said the toolbox was about 1.5m deep and 2m long and it had been kept at the Kingston unit.

After Breton and Triscaru were lured to the property on the day of the killings, they were beaten with a large pole, the man told the court.

“I could see Cory was bleeding out of his left knee and he couldn’t move his left arm,” Mr Harrington said.

He told the court Triscaru’s “hands were bound and her make-up was smudged from crying when she was getting hit”.

Breton’s friend Lelan Colin Michael Harrington is today giving evidence in the trial. He told the jury he had been sentenced for deprivation of liberty and assault over his role in the horrific beatings, which he detailed from the stand on Thursday. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled

“They told them to get up and lay down in the box,” Mr Harrington said.

“I remember when (Triscaru) was trying to stop the lid from closing Stou (Daniels) was slashing at her forearms with the knife that he stabbed Cory with.”

The pair were restrained in the box with zip ties and duct tape and the box was moved into the garage of the property, the man told the jury.

“Then as I walked out I seen (sic) (Triscaru) out of the box, I put my finger to my lips and I told her to be quiet,” Mr Harrington said.

“I panicked ran upstairs and I told them she was getting away. They all ran downstairs and I heard (her) scream.

“Downstairs (another man) had his hand over her mouth and blood was coming out of the side of her mouth.

“(He) had her pinned down as well and yeah, they put a zip tie around her hands and feet again and then... grabbed a zip tie and tied it around her neck and she was coughing and choking on her own blood.

“They picked her up and placed her in the toolbox.

Tuhirangi-Thomas Tahiata is on trial for the killings and has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in the Brisbane Supreme Court. (Court illustration)

Lelan Harrington: “I remember when (Triscaru) was trying to stop the lid from closing Stou (Daniels) was slashing at her forearms with the knife that he stabbed Cory with.” (Pictured: Stou Daniels – Court illustration)

“She was still in there for I don’t know how long until it got to the point where Cory was banging on the toolbox and asking them to cut the zip tie off her neck.”

The court heard the toolbox was later taken from the property to the dam in Tahiata’s ute.

“They were just kicking and screaming inside the toolbox and even when they were laying in the back of the ute they were still kicking and screaming in the back (and I could hear) over the music,” Mr Harrington said.

He said he drove in Breton’s car with another man to the dam where he met up with Tahiata and the group.

“(Tahiata) jumped out of the ute, he had no shirt on and had mud splatter up his chest and said: ‘It was done’,” he said.

The trial continues.