Gangster Terrence Blewitt’s lover ‘was underworld chauffeur’
A CAREER criminal’s lover has told court she chauffeured her partner to meetings with slain gangland boss Carl Williams leading up to the murder of Graham “The Munster” Kinniburgh.
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THE former lover of a career criminal has told court how she would chauffeur him to meetings with gangland boss Carl Williams leading up to the murder of Graham “The Munster” Kinniburgh.
Kathleen Stanton said her ex-partner, Terrence Blewitt, an armed robber, never told her about his criminal associations to protect her.
Police suspect Blewitt, whose remains were found by police earlier this year more than a decade after he disappeared, was involved in the murder of The Munster alongside Stephen Asling, who has been charged with the December 2003 killing.
Ms Stanton was the first to be called to the witness stand on day one of the five-day committal hearing of Mr Asling in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.
Lawyers for Mr Asling failed in their bid to suppress the media reporting on the court proceedings.
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PREVIOUSLY: MAN CHARGED OVER KINNIBURGH MURDER
Ms Stanton told the court of how she would chauffeur Blewitt around, dropping and picking him up “regularly” from meetings, often at pubs, with gangland boss Carl Williams and other associates, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The former prison security guard said each day in the week leading up to and on the day of Kinniburgh's death, she dropped Blewitt off at Melton South train station without question.
She said she never attended the gangland meetings, but would “sometimes” go play the pokies at the venue where they were gathering while she waited for Blewitt.
She also spoke of the last moment she saw Blewitt when she dropped him at a milk bar on the corner of Hume and Lachlan streets in Melton about 1.30pm on April 12, 2004.
When he got out of the car he told her, "Go straight, don't look" before he walked towards a green Hyundai excel parked nearby, she said. He was never seen again.
Police allege the same Hyundai was used as a getaway car on the night Kinniburgh was gunned down at his Belmont Ave home.
Three residents living in the street were also called as witnesses and described hearing "loud cracks" and "bangs" just after midnight on December 13.
Nurse Bernadette Fogarty said she looked out her bedroom window on hearing the gunfire and saw two men get into a small sedan and flee "so fast the tyres screeched".
Neighbour Rene Slota also described seeing two men on the street and bangs that resembled firecrackers going off as he arrived home with his brother from a family dinner.
He said he saw one man get into the passenger seat of a car, which he described as a dark green Hyundai excel, parked in the middle of the street before leaving.
None of the witnesses reported seeing a weapon.
They also didn't hear any screams or words exchanged before the gunfire.
The hearing, before Magistrate Jan Maclean, continues.