Andrew Christopher Walsh murder trial: ‘Like some scene out of Dexter’

The alleged murder of a man later found buried in a concrete pit was like a horror story, with one of the accused killers apparently dressed like a butcher or “some scene out of Dexter” with blood all over him”, a court has heard.

The body of Andrew Christopher Walsh was found buried in concrete.

The alleged murder of a man later found buried in a concrete pit was like a horror story, with one of the accused killers apparently dressed like a butcher or “some scene out of Dexter” with blood all over him”, a court has heard.

Dewald De Klerk, 30 and Joshua Searston 27, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Andrew Christopher Walsh at a transport business at Coopers Plains in Brisbane’s south in November 2021.

The Crown have alleged the defendants attacked the 35-year-old at the Musgrave Rd business shortly after a claim by one their associates – who had earlier stolen Mr Walsh’s car money and drugs – that he had drugged and possibly sexually assaulted her.

Mr Walsh was upstairs at the business when he was told to come downstairs to the “interrogation station” where a Finks bikie had just been bashed, Crown prosecutor Chris Cook told the jury in his closing address.

“There’s this perfect storm brewing that night there…it’s Ghost’s turn,” Mr Cook, using Mr Walsh’s nickname, said on Wednesday.

“They can’t get him into their interrogation station. What happens? Searston goes upstairs.

He skullgrabs Mr Walsh, ‘You were told to go come downstairs,’ he punches him, I think the word was ‘flogged’.”

Key Crown witness Jessica Anne Noy, 37, who was living at the Coopers Plains business, said she saw Searston stab Mr Walsh twice.

Noy, who came under heavy attack from the defendants’ barristers, said Mr Walsh had been beaten until he was acting like a two-year-old and she told them to put him out of his misery, the court heard.

“Now, that sounds callous, doesn’t it? But remember what else she said? She said, ‘I’ve just seen him, he looked bad, he was probably going to die anyways.’ ”

The court heard Noy later saw two legs sticking out of a downstairs bathroom which Mr Cook said belonged to Mr Walsh, who was by this stage dead.

The Crown’s case is that Mr Walsh had been taken downstairs where he was further assaulted and stabbed.

“The violence that occurred downstairs was extreme,” Mr Cook alleged.

“Searston stabs him in the back or De Klerk stabs him in the back. One of them aids, the other does it.

“You could probably find .. it’s De Klerk, he’s the one there dressed like a butcher, or some scene out of Dexter with blood all over him.”

After leaving and returning in the morning Noy claims she saw Searston slapping Mr Walsh’s body as it was laid on a forklift, the court heard.

“(Josh said) That’s what happens you putrid dog,” Noy said.

Mr Cook said the use of the word “dog” was consistent with an unlawful killing.

“It’s here again in this ultimate show of disrespect, before they chuck him into the pit like a piece of garbage,” he said.

The court has heard Mr Walsh’s body was discovered about three months later when police searched the business and dug up the concrete pit where he had been placed wrapped in plastic.

Mr Cook drew the jury’s attention to the defendants’ conduct after the alleged murder highlighting what he claims was De Klerk’s attempt to flee the country in March when he was arrested by police at Sydney Airport with a ticket to Auckland.

But both defence barristers savaged the Crown witness Noy saying she was unreliable and dishonest with De Klerk’s counsel David Funch asking the jury whether they “would trust her to look after your kids”.

“You might think she was just a disgracefully dishonest witness not to put too fine a point on it. She just lied and lied and lied then she lied about lying. So it was even worse than being dishonest. She was being dishonest about being dishonest,” he claimed.

Mr Funch said Noy had a “massive incentive to lie.”

“She promised to give something of value to the prosecution, which is her evidence …and she entered into that agreement in exchange for something that was valuable for her, which was the possibility of a lighter sentence,” he said.

“She was originally charged with murder, and then as her statements evolved and her version changed, ultimately she pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder and the production of drugs. So talk about an incentive to lie.”

Discussing his client’s attempt to leave the country Mr Funch said NZ was “not Manila or Majorca” and even if the jury thought it was an attempt to run he reminded them De Klerk had interfered with Mr Walsh’s corpse but that “doesn’t mean your fleeing murder”.

De Klerk pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with a corpse at the beginning of the trial.

Mr Funch said even if Noy’s evidence was truthful it did not implicate his client in murder or manslaughter.

Searston’s barrister Anna Cappellano also attacked Noy’s credibility, saying she gave five different statements to police and it was only in the final one she claimed her client had stabbed Mr Walsh.

She said Noy’s excuse about not initially divulging this to police because she had been trying to protect Searston didn’t make sense as they hardly knew each other.

Ms Cappellano said Noy’s account of where Mr Walsh had been stabbed and in which hand Searston was allegedly holding the knife had changed and neither were supported by the medical evidence.

“Ms Noy proved to be such an unreliable witness, such a dishonest witness, that her evidence into what occurred in relation to these critical issues cannot be relied upon.”

The trial is expected to continue next week.

Originally published as Andrew Christopher Walsh murder trial: ‘Like some scene out of Dexter’