Troy Maskell has been committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court over service station manslaughter

A dad who allegedly threw a sports drink at a man’s head in a drunken fit of rage says he thought he had looked at his daughter “inappropriately”.

A Shepparton dad has been committed to stand trial in the state’s highest court, accused of drunkenly throwing a sports drink at an elderly man’s head – ultimately leading to his death.

A committal hosted for Troy Maskell, 43, in the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday heard evidence from seven different people, including a witness, doctors and friend of the accused.

The first witness, Craig Bristol, told the court he and Maskell had been friends for more than 30 years.

Maskell had attended a party at his home on the evening of August 7 last year with his partner and one of his children.

They left after about eight hours of heavy drinking, including a bottle of Jack Daniels, about 12.45am and stopped at a service station on their way home.

The service station attendant who was working that night, Brenton North, told the court the local Strathmerton postmaster, John Burke, dropped into the shop about 1am.

He said it wasn’t out of character for the 73-year-old father of three to drop in for a chat.

On this occasion he had been at the service station for about 10 minutes when a woman, since identified to be the accused’s then partner, and a girl entered.

Troy Maskell allegedly threw a sport drink at a 73-year-old man at Shell service station in Strathmerton. Picture: Facebook

Mr North gave evidence that the woman “aggressively” said something to Mr Burke while she was at the counter paying for items, including a bottle of a red Maximus drink.

The court heard Mr Burke replied with “excuse me” or “pardon” before she allegedly continued her tirade of accusations.

He said a man, since identified to be Maskell, then entered the store and she relayed her accusation that he had looked at the girl “inappropriately”.

The court heard Maskell then walked past the counter, grabbed the one litre sports drink his partner had purchased and approached Mr Burke as he backed into the trucker’s lounge.

Court documents reveal Maskell then allegedly “aggressively approached” Mr Burke as he was hunched over and kicked him in his right hip.

He then allegedly stomped on his spectacles and kicked the bottle towards Mr Burke as he lay on the ground.

Mr North said the woman then asked him something along the lines of, “am I in on this?” before he heard a thunk.

He said another male then appeared and he was asked about the store’s security cameras.

“They said delete the footage or I’ll come back,” he recalled.

Mr North told the group to leave and watched them get into their car before sitting in it with the headlights on.

When they left he went into the lounge and saw Mr Burke lying on his side and called triple-0 just after 1am.

Paramedic Alexander Nicholson gave evidence that he received a Code 2 dispatch call at 2am while he was in Shepparton, and he arrived at the service station at 2.45am.

He said Mr Burke was conscious and speaking to a police officer upon his arrival but was bleeding from a laceration near his left ear.

But once in the ambulance he developed difficulties speaking — he confidently responded to questions with jumbled vocabulary that was “completely out of context” for about 15 minutes before his conversation returned to normal.

Mr Burke died in a Melbourne hospital on October 28, 2021.

Two doctors also gave evidence during the committal – consultant forensic pathologist Dr Yeliena Baber and forensic neuropathologist Dr Linda Iles.

Dr Baber explained the cause of death was “multifactorial” – a brain injury second to multiple bleeds and bruises on the brain.

Dr Iles concluded the incident could be “reasonably attributed” to the deterioration in his health.

Maskell, who court documents reveal had drunk a box of Carlton Dry, shots of Jack Daniels and had smoked cannabis in the hours earlier, previously pleaded not guilty to a single charge of manslaughter.

Following the committal the magistrate committed him to stand trial in the Supreme Court.

A directions hearing will take place next month.

Mr Burke, who grew up in the Strathmerton area and provided a life of service, was known in the town as the “local historian” and was also the town’s Justice of the Peace for more than 30 years.