Accused murderer Christine Lyons was desperate to be a mum, court told
WALKER, Texas Ranger DVDs, four cans of Jack Daniel’s, and a nagging wife was allegedly all a savage killer needed to rev himself up to murder Bendigo mum-of-four Samantha Kelly, a court has heard.
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WALKER, Texas Ranger DVDs, four cans of Jack Daniel’s, and a nagging wife was allegedly all a savage killer needed to rev himself up to murder mum-of-four Samantha Kelly.
Peter Arthur today told the Supreme Court he used a hammer to beat Ms Kelly to death after weeks of plotting her murder with his wife, Christine Lyons, and friend Ronald Lyons.
The trio lived together in Bendigo and rented a bungalow on the property to Ms Kelly and her four children.
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Arthur said his wife was desperate to have children but was unable to conceive and wanted to take control of Ms Kelly’s family.
The court heard the trio had repeatedly failed to fatally drug Ms Kelly by plying her with toxic cocktails of drugs and alcohol. They decided to murder her instead, Arthur said.
He said he spent the night before the murder watching episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger on DVD while Christine Lyons played on her phone and Ronald Lyons played PlayStation.
“Christine wanted the job done then and there. I wasn’t up for it at the time,” Arthur told the court. “She said it was time to kill Samantha.”
Arthur said he and Mr Lyons picked out a hammer to use and planted it in the bedroom of Ms Kelly’s bungalow.
He said he drank about four cans of Jack Daniel’s immediately before the killing.
“After some drinks that was enough to get up the Dutch courage to go back out to the unit,” he said.
“Samantha had just came from the toilet, she asked to see her kids and I said no … I walked into the bedroom and picked up the hammer. Then I walked back out to the lounge room where I struck Samantha … in the head.”
Arthur re-enacted the hitting motion and said after Ms Kelly collapsed, he hit her again.
“I don’t know what happened after that, I blacked out,” he said. “I went back into the main house where Ronald and Christine were in the lounge room and I told Christine the job had been done.
“She turned around to Ronald and said: ‘You go and make sure that Samantha is dead.’ Ronald got up out of his chair, walked out to the unit, he came back in and said: ‘Yes you’re the mother of four children’.”
Arthur said Ms Lyons responded “about time”.
Christine and Ronald Lyons, who are unrelated, have pleaded not guilty to Ms Kelly’s January 2016 murder.
Prosecutors allege they had an agreement with Arthur who has admitted to killing Ms Kelly. The court heard the trio had hoped Ms Kelly’s death would be ruled an overdose.
The trial continues.