Emil ‘Bill’ Petrov faces Supreme Court trial over 2007 murder of Cindy Crossthwaite

Weeks before Melton South mum Cindy Crossthwaite was shot dead in her home, her ex-husband Emil Petrov allegedly told his friend “I’m going to kill her”.

Emil ‘Bill’ Petrov has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Cindy Crossthwaite. Picture: Ian Currie

Weeks before mum Cindy Crossthwaite was shot dead near the door of her Melton South home, her ex-husband opened the boot of his car and showed his friend what was inside, a court has heard.

According to this friend, Emil ‘Bill’ Petrov – currently facing trial for murder – had a curly black wig, a pair of black gloves, a dark blue work jacket and a dark beanie.

“What are you doing with this stuff?” Brian O’Shea asked his mate in April or May, 2007, the Supreme Court heard on Wednesday.

“I’m going to kill that c***,” Mr Petrov replied, according to the prosecution’s opening of the case.

“I’m going to take a week off work and I’m going to kill her, will you help me?”

Emil Petrov is accused of killing his estranged wife Cindy Crossthwaite in 2007. Picture: Ian Currie

Mr Petrov, 60, who has pleaded not guilty to murder, denies this ever happened.

Months earlier, Mr O’Shea claimed he sourced a black handgun for his friend for $3000, who said he needed one because the Footscray home he and his parents lived in had been broken into.

During an exchange in the carpark of Footscray’s Powell Hotel, Mr Petrov handed over an envelope before he was given a shoebox with a dark handgun inside, prosecutors state.

Mr O’Shea also told authorities Mr Petrov had invited him to “go clubbing” and stay overnight in Rosebud earlier that summer.

The next morning, he says his mate told him Cindy was living in Rosebud at the time, and they drove around town looking for her car in driveways to see if they could find her house.

“During the journey home, Bill Petrov told Brian O’Shea how much he hated Cindy Crossthwaite and wanted to get rid of her,” Crown Prosecutor Mark Gibson KC said.

Cindy Crossthwaite’s body was discovered by her father in her home in 2007.

On June 20, 2007, Cindy’s battered body was found by her father near the doorway of her Melton South home after she’d failed to pick up her children from primary school.

Beaten, choked and shot in the head at close range, the mother of three had been moved onto a mat, with a blanket covering her body.

The 41-year-old’s death came as she was in the middle of a protracted family court battle with Mr Petrov over property and custody of their children.

The court heard Mr Petrov also blamed his ex-wife for “orchestrating” sexual assault claims made by an alleged victim against his father.

The pair’s young daughter, Jesmine, would also state that she’d answered her mother’s phone on a number of occasions over the year before her death, and heard her father on the other end say things like, “I will get you next time” before hanging up.

Cindy Crossthwaite’s death came during a family court battle with Mr Petrov over property and custody of their children. Picture: Cifra Manuela

The morning she died, about 9am, a neighbour says he saw a man look through a fence towards Cindy’s driveway for about 30 seconds before walking away, the court heard.

One of Cindy’s friends also told authorities she walked past Mr Petrov at the nearby Melton South shops that morning.

Interviewed by police the day of his ex-wife’s death, Mr Petrov – who had taken the week off work – “totally denied killing Cindy Crossthwaite or having any involvement in the killing of Cindy Crossthwaite”.

He’s also denied even knowing where she lived.

A few weeks later, Mr Petrov’s father was told by police that no charges would be laid against him over sexual assault allegations.

Then more than a decade later, and despite his denials, Mr Petrov was charged on 17 July 2019 with Cindy’s murder.

Emil Petrov has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Cindy Crossthwaite. Picture: Ian Currie

Mr Gibson said it was the Crown’s case that Mr Petrov murdered Cindy with the gun he’d sourced from his friend Mr O’Shea, or alternatively, he got another unknown person to “do the deed”.

Defence barrister Ashley Halphen said prosecutors were taking “two bites of the apple”, but that either way, Mr Petrov “absolutely denies criminal responsibility for the death of Cindy Crossthwaite”.

Mr Halphen said “everything” that witness Brian O’Shea would tell the court was “in heated dispute”, and called on the jury to “reject most of Brian O’Shea’s evidence”.

That included that he’d sourced a gun for Mr Petrov, that he’d shown him items in his boot, or that they’d gone on a trip to Rosebud and driven about looking for Cindy’s then home.

Prosecutors earlier submitted to the jury that Cindy was “a woman without enemies except, the Crown says, one”.

But Mr Halphen asked the jury, “were there others in the frame that may have had a bee in their bonnet in relation to Ms Crossthwaite?”

The trial before Justice Christopher Beale continues.