Simone Quinlan was dead when she was shot five times, murder accused Wayne Marmo says
AN ACCUSED murderer who admits he shot a mother five times in the head before dumping her body in a mine shaft is not her killer, his lawyer says.
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AN ACCUSED murderer who admits he shot a mother five times in the head before dumping her body in a mine shaft and setting it alight is not her killer, his lawyer says.
Defence lawyer Scott Johns told the jury on the first day of Wayne Marmo’s Supreme Court murder trial to consider seeking a conviction on the lesser charge of attempted murder, suggesting Simone Quinlan was likely already dead before he shot her.
“Did Wayne Marmo do that to make sure, we accept that,” Mr Johns said. “That shocking, unsavoury fact constitutes attempted murder.”
Mr Johns said Ms Quinlan’s abusive boyfriend Brendan Neil was the murderer.
Crown Prosecutor Kevin Doyle said Mr Marmo sat smoking ice and filing a gun at the kitchen table while Ms Quinlan was “savagely assaulted” by Mr Neil at their Melton home on August 25, 2015.
Mr Neil threw Ms Quinlan around “like a ragdoll”, kicked her in the chest and head, tied her hands with cable ties and put duct tape around her mouth, nose and eyes, the court heard.
He then smashed her over the head with a hammer.
Mr Marmo allegedly backed a white Hilux utility he drove to Mr Neil’s house up to the front door and put Ms Quinlan’s lifeless body in the tray.
He then drove off, with a witness who cannot be named, and another man, DJ, to dispose of the body while Mr Neil went to the pub.
Mr Doyle said the witness, who is expected to give evidence in the trial, claims Mr Neil had told Mr Marmo to take the body away and if Ms Quinlan wasn’t already dead, he must kill her.
As they drove towards Kangaroo Flat, where her body would later be found by police, Mr Marmo stopped on hearing a noise in the back of the car and went to inspect.
It was at this point, he shot Ms Quinlan five times to the back of the head.
“Wayne Marmo doesn’t dispute he took her remains away and that he shot her five times,” Mr Doyle said.
But he said the prosecution were unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Ms Quinlan, 33, was alive when Mr Marmo shot her.
He said her body was so badly incinerated an autopsy could not determine the exact cause of death, identifying three potential causes: gunshot wounds to the head, skull fracture and the covering of her nose and mouth with tape.
Mr Doyle said Mr Marmo was complicit in Mr Neil’s murder.
“A person can be guilty of a crime whether or not they committed the precise acts that killed the person,” Mr Doyle told the jury.
“One way or another, he is guilty of murder.”
Mr Johns described the actions of Mr Neil as “appalling conduct”.
“Wayne Marmo neither agreed for that to happen nor did he intentionally encourage what turned out to be a murderous assault,” Mr Johns said.
He said the jury needed to determine if Mr Marmo entered an agreement or “assisted and engaged” with Mr Neil to find him guilty of murder.
The trial before Justice Jane Dixon continues.