David Bagster faces trial after ex-girlfriend Valmai Birch found dead in wheelie bin

A man is on trial after denying he had anything to do with his ex-girlfriend’s death, after she was found decomposing and hogtied stuffed in a wheelie bin. GRAPHIC WARNING.

An Illawarra man accused of killing his former girlfriend after police found her body hogtied and stuffed inside a wheelie bin tried to “cast suspicion away from himself”, a court has heard.

David Bagster, 52, faced his first day of trial in the NSW District Court on Tuesday, after pleading not guilty to manslaughter following the death of his former girlfriend Valmai Jane Birch, who was found dead in a council wheelie bin inside her Woonona unit in March 2011.

Mr Bagster, who has been on remand in custody since he was arrested and charged in October 2019, sat in the dock and at times shook his head, as the Crown prosecutor alleged Mr Bagster had killed Ms Birch, who went by the name ‘Jane’, sometime after she was last seen alive on March 9, 2011.

Valmai ‘Jane’ Birch was found dead inside a wheelie bin in March 2011.

The crown told the jury Mr Bagster and Ms Birch met in 2010, after they were introduced by a friend. While they were in an on-and-off relationship until Ms Birch’s death, the crown alleged the relationship was characterised by drug use, arguments and violence.

“On occasion she complained (to friends) about being struck by Mr Bagster … she had bruises on body and legs,” the crown prosecutor alleged.

“She also complained about being hog tied or tied up, and had marks on wrist from Mr Bagster.”

While Ms Birch’s body was found by police on March 22, she was last seen alive on March 9, captured on CCTV footage at Wollongong train station with Mr Bagster that morning.

In opening remarks to the jury, the crown told the jury at 3pm on the same day, Ms Birch was found passed out on Woods Ave, Woonona, and helped inside her home by a neighbour.

In setting out a timeline, the crown told the jury Mr Bagster was seen at the unit the following day, “fiddling” with a window and knocking on the door before leaving.

The jury heard on March 21, Mr Bagster visited one of Ms Birch’s neighbours, where he said a “foul” smell coming from her unit was probably garbage, and that he was concerned about her welfare, telling the neighbour he hadn’t seen her for two or three weeks.

David Bagster was arrested following a lengthy investigation in 2019. Picture: NSW Police Force

“The visit to the neighbour was an attempt to cast doubt away from himself,” the crown alleged to the jury.

The smell was reported to police the following day by a neighbour, the jury heard, with police arriving to a gruesome discovery.

“Police forced entry into the unit by smashing a window,” the jury heard.

“A fan in the lounge room and an exhaust fan in the kitchen were operating … In the bathroom they found a council wheelie bin, inside it was the body of Jane, face down.”

In its opening address, the crown said Mr Bagster’s fingerprints were found under the rim of bin, which the prosecutor alleged was “consistent with him leaving those prints while manoeuvring it into shower recess”.

Ms Birch was found dead in a wheelie bin inside her Woods Ave unit in Woonona.

While the crown told the jury a post mortem of Ms Birch’s body could not conclude the cause of Ms Birch’s death, it was alleged “the manner of death was not innocent misadventure or drug overdose, but the dangerous and unlawful action of Mr Bagster.”

In concluding his address, the Crown prosecutor alleged Ms Birch’s death was a result of a continued pattern of behaviour by Mr Bagster.

In his opening to the jury, Mr Bagster’s defence lawyer Scott Frazer said his client denied killing Ms Birch, and the allegation their relationship was characterised by violence.

“The relationship had its ups and downs and that won’t be a matter of dispute, however the crown’s claims their relationship was characterised by violence will be in dispute,” he said.

While he agreed with the crown drug use was a heavy feature of their relationship, Mr Frazer asked the jury “not to put prejudice on any witness or Mr Bagster because they were involved in drug use”.

The trial continues.