Three men to stand trial for the alleged murder of a Territory teenager

Three men accused of beating a teenager to death two days before Christmas last year will face a murder trial in the Supreme Court.

Three men have faced the Darwin Local Court charged with murder following the death of a 19-year-old man on Christmas Day last year.

THREE men accused of beating a teenager to death in Borroloola two days before Christmas last year will face a murder trial in the Supreme Court.

Kurt Ellis, 27, Adam Allan Noble, 24 and Bevan O’Keefe, 24, each faced a committal hearing in the Darwin Local Court yesterday where judge Elisabeth Armitage ruled there was enough evidence for them to stand trial.

Crown prosecutor David Morters told the court O’Keefe had been involved in a “long running dispute” with the 19-year-old victim’s brother when the three accused men encountered the pair on the night of December 23.

Mr Morters said O’Keefe had “had a great deal to drink” when he challenged the other man to a fight before all three ended up assaulting the teenager.

“The cause of death was a fractured skull and brain injury consistent with a blunt force head injury,” he said.

Mr Morters said the fight broke out in a “little camp” north of the Borroloola township and the brief of evidence contained more than 50 witness statements from people who saw “bits and pieces” of what happened.

“You don’t get much more remote than where it occurred,” he said.

The 19-year-old was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital where he died on Christmas Day.

Ellis is also facing one count of unlawful entry and one count of theft after allegedly breaking into the Heartbreak Hotel, an hour south of Borroloola on the Carpentaria Hwy, the night before the fight.

Mr Morters said Ellis had participated in a police interview on Christmas Eve in which he identified himself in closed circuit television footage from the hotel and made “admissions”.

Lawyers for the three men, Julia Ker, Giles O’Brien-Hartcher and Tom Berkley did not make any submissions or call any evidence during the hearing.

“The evidence is sufficient to put each of the defendants on their trial for … the charge of murder,” judge Elisabeth Armitage said.

The matter will return to court on January 30.