Carl Williams planned to kill enemy’s associate, a court heard
CARL Williams wanted fellow Melbourne underworld figure Graham “The Munster” Kinniburgh dead, so arranged for two men to kill him.
THE “powerful” Carl Williams wanted fellow Melbourne underworld figure Graham ‘The Munster’ Kinniburgh dead and arranged for two men to kill him, a jury has been told.
Stephen John Asling is on trial charged with the murder of Mr Kinniburgh in 2003. He faced the first day of his trial yesterday.
In his opening statement to the jury, Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said Asling and another man Terrence Blewitt (who is now deceased) lay in wait for Mr Kinniburgh outside his home before ambushing and killing him.
Williams’s plan to arrange the murder of Kinniburgh began as a plot to kill his enemy Lewis Moran, the jury was told.
Kinniburgh, 62, was shot dead in his quiet suburban street in Kew, in Melbourne’s east, just before midnight in December 2003.
He was in grave danger at the time, but didn’t know it, Mr Tinney told the jury.
He said Williams had arranged for Asling, 56, and Blewitt to kill him.
Four people — including Asling, Blewitt, Williams — were all allegedly involved in the joint criminal enterprise to kill “The Munster”.
The jury heard Kinniburgh was understood to be a close friend of Lewis Moran, and that Williams — who was killed in prison in 2010 — wanted Moran and his associates dead.
“Carl Williams said in effect, well if you can’t kill Lewis Moran, kill Graham Kinniburgh,” Mr Tinney told the court on Tuesday.
“That’s why Graham Kinniburgh was killed.”
The court heard there was an indication Asling and Blewitt were armed with handguns when Kinniburgh was ambushed as he got out of his car. Kinniburgh produced a gun himself to try to defend himself but was shot three times by a revolver and a semiautomatic pistol, Mr Tinney said. He suffered wounds to his head and torso and died in the street outside his house, with his wife and neighbours hearing the shots.
Mr Tinney said that after the murder, Asling and Blewitt drove from the scene. The defence is yet to address the jury.