Stuart Anderson pleads not guilty to the murder of his neighbour Vicki Ramadan

A man who allegedly bashed his elderly neighbour to death in Melbourne’s northwest told a TV journalist he hoped the cops “catch the son of a bitch” who killed her. Watch his interview.

A man accused of brutally beating his elderly neighbour to death was captured on camera days later saying he hopes the cops “catch the son of a bitch” who killed her.

Stuart Anderson, 42, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Vicki Ramadan, 77, who was found dead in the hallway of her Sydenham home in a “pool of blood” on April 6, 2019.

But on the first day of his Supreme Court trial on Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Neill Hutton said Mr Anderson killed the old lady in a “burglary gone wrong” sometime between March 23-27.

Mr Hutton told the jury Ms Ramadan, dressed in a cream cardigan and black skirt, was “brutally beaten”, with an autopsy revealing she died “almost immediately” after suffering multiple fractures to her skull, face and jaw.

“Blood had splattered up and along the walls,” he said.

Several teeth were also found in the pool of blood, which had stained the carpet.

Stuart Anderson is accused of murdering Vicki Ramadan in 2019. Picture: A Current Affair/9 News

Mr Hutton said Mr Anderson had met Ms Ramadan in March after the widow knocked on his door to ask whether he could complete some “odd jobs”.

He assembled some flat packs for her on March 23, but neighbours heard Mr Anderson yelling at Ms Ramadan while inside her Marlborough Way home.

However, she paid $300 to Mr Anderson’s partner for the work he had done.

Two weeks later, Mr Anderson told police he went to her property on April 6 at 9am to retrieve some tools when he discovered the back door broken and the woman dead.

“She’s lying in the hallway,” he told a triple-0 operator.

“I’ve got no idea how she died. I just know there’s blood everywhere.

“There’s blood all over the floor. There’s blood on the walls.

“I can definitely tell you she’s dead.”

But Mr Hutton said this version of events was a “charade”.

“He knew before 9am … that the door had already been broken in and that she was dead,” he said.

“He knew that because he was the one who broke the back door in.”

Vicki Ramadan was “brutally beaten” about the head and upper body.

Mr Anderson was interviewed by a journalist from A Current Affair on April 16 while standing on the footpath near their homes in Melbourne’s northwest. 

In the interview, which was played to the jury on Wednesday, Mr Anderson described Ms Ramadan as a “very polite old lady”.

“She didn’t deserve this at all,” he told the journalist.

“I really hope to God that the cops catch the son of a bitch.

“I really do because she didn’t deserve this whatsoever.”

He said her death was a “tragedy” and passed along his condolences to her loved ones.

“As I said, I hope the coppers catch ’em,” he said.

The journalist asked him how he felt when he found her dead, to which he replied: “I felt sick.”

“It haunts me a little bit, I won’t lie,” he said.

Before the interview ended, the accused murderer urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers to “help” police.

“This whole community’s in fear now. People shouldn’t have to live like this,” he added.

Mr Hutton said Mr Anderson had “through the interview” told the “world at large” his version of events which “turned out to be a lie”.

Ms Ramadan asked Mr Anderson to complete some “odd jobs”.

The court heard Mr Anderson admitted to detectives in August 2019 that he broke into Ms Ramadan’s house on April 6 at 2am by “hip and shouldering” the back door because he wanted to retrieve his tools.

“He maintained … that he had found Ms Ramadan dead,” Mr Hutton.

But the Crown prosecutor said his second version of events was also a “lie” because there was evidence Mr Anderson had called a mate and told him she had “heaps of expensive shit in her house” and he had thought about “robbing her”.

In a second call, Mr Anderson told his mate he had robbed her but that he “got busted” and she had woken up.

The court heard DNA was found on Ms Ramadan’s hands and clothing, with scientists to give evidence that it is “highly likely” to have come from the accused man.

Ms Ramadan was found dead in her Marlborough Way home. Picture: Ian Currie

Mr Hutton told the jury it was the prosecution case that Mr Anderson was confronted by Ms Ramadan as he attempted to steal items from her home.

“He struck her to the head with a blunt object and caused her death, that is, that the accused violently assaulted her with an intention to kill or cause a really serious injury,” he said.

While conceding it was a circumstantial case, he concluded: “When you put all the pieces together, it becomes obvious that the accused man is the murderer.”

But Mr Anderson’s defence barrister Glenn Casement told the court his client, who sat in the dock wearing a suit, was not Ms Ramadan’s murderer.

“Stuart Anderson finding the body and bringing it to the attention of investigators on April 6 makes absolutely no sense if he was the person who killed her,” he said.

“Ask yourself, members of the jury, bringing to the attention of investigators the very crime you are supposed to have committed 10 to 12 days before … ask yourself, does that make any sense at all?

“Of course it doesn’t.”

Mr Casement said his client “regrettably” did not tell detectives in April that he broke into Ms Ramadan’s house, but he told the jury it did not mean he killed her.

“He didn’t own up to that break in and … plainly he should have,” he said.

Concluding his opening address, Mr Casement said it was possible the elderly lady was killed by someone else, especially since people knew she owned expensive jewellery and carried cash.

“My client did not kill Vicki Ramadan,” he said.

The trial, before Justice Amanda Fox, continues.