Justin Kent Dilosa, Carol Marie McHenry on trial for murder of Danielle Easey in 2019
A witness has told the jury his friend had conversations with him confessing he had murdered a young mum. Read what happened in court.
Newcastle
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A jury has been told how a man on trial for the murder of Danielle Easey confessed to a friend twice he had killed her because the “crack ran out” and she was “going to hurt his friends”.
Justin Kent Dilosa, 34, and former partner Carole Marie Dawson McHenry, 33, are on trial in the NSW Supreme Court after they both pleaded not guilty to the horrific murder of the young mum more than three years ago.
It’s alleged Ms Easey was stabbed to death in a Narrara home on August 17, 2019 before her body was wrapped in plastic and two weeks later dumped at Cockle Creek near Killingworth, west of Newcastle, where she was later found by a passing motorist.
In the alternate, McHenry has entered a plea of guilty to a charge of accessory after the fact, accepting she did assist Dilosa after he had killed Ms Easey, claiming she was scared to go to police of what he would do.
In court on Tuesday, witness Jacob Collins told the jury it was on two occasions his friend Dilosa had conversations with him and made confessions about what he had done to Ms Easey.
“Justin had said he had killed her and said something about it was all good until the crack ran out and said that chick was no good and was going to hurt his friends and then it happened, he stabbed her in head and back and that he would do it again,” Mr Collins said giving evidence.
He said he told Dilosa to hand himself in but that his reply was that he wasn’t going to.
He also told the jury he informed Dilosa that if police came to talk to him, he would tell them what happened.
Mr Collins also gave evidence about being at the house of Jeremy Princehorn - another friend of Dilosa’s and McHenry’s - and that Dilosa was asking how to destroy a knife, the one alleged to have stabbed Ms Easey to death, before it was thrown into a firepit in the backyard.
He said he saw him pull the knife out of the 44 gallon drum which was alight.
“He asked me how to cut it in half. He said that he loved that knife and he was going to miss it,” Mr Collins told the jury.
The jury heard despite knowing the information that Dilosa had been responsible for Ms Easey’s death, he continued to spend time with him.
The court heard his motivation to go back to his friends house after staying away for a period of time was “getting on the ice” again and his concern for Dilosa’s dogs - who he occasionally looked after.
He also feared something might happen to him.
Mr Collins also recalled he was out front of Dilosa’s house - an old Ingham’s chicken factory in Cardiff - and had noticed a “Putrid” smell coming from the 34-year-old’s van.
“Did you ask him about the smell?” Crown Prosecutor John Stanhope said.
“Yes. he said what do you think it is,” replied Mr Collins.
He told the jury he again smelt that “putrid” smell at the Gateshead Tavern when Dilosa was bringing around a dog, before a week later he saw news that Ms Easey’s body was found and later Dilosa and McHenry were arrested.
Dilosa’s defence barrister Angus Webb questioned Mr Collins on whether his memory had been tainted by his ice addiction, and that Dilosa had in fact made no confessions.
“Are you sure that happened?” Mr Webb said.
“You heard a lot of things said over a period of some weeks, gossip of ice users very commonly engaged in?
“You didn’t hear him say those things,” to which Mr Collins replied, “Yes I did. When someone tells you something like that it’s pretty shocking.”
The trial continues
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