Pair guilty of ‘vile and inhumane’ Brisbane murder and concrete burial

Two men have been found guilty of the “vile and inhumane” murder of a man whose body was thrown in a pit and covered in concrete.

A jury on Wednesday found Joshua Searston, 27, and Dewald De Klerk, 30, guilty in the Queensland Supreme Court of the murder of Andrew Walsh, 35, at a transport business in Brisbane’s south in November 2021.

The body of Walsh – known as “Ghost” – was not discovered until March 2022, when police dug down 1.5 metres at the Coopers Plains transport depot.

Dewald De Klerk and Joshua Searston have been convicted of the murder of Andrew Walsh, whose body was found in concrete at Coopers Plains.Credit: Nine News

De Klerk pleaded guilty at the start of the trial to interfering with a corpse.

Crown prosecutor Chris Cook last week told the jury in Brisbane the defendants attacked and stabbed Walsh believing he had been “franking” – sexually assaulting someone after drugging them.

On Wednesday, Cook called for mandatory life sentences for the pair, who he said had shown no remorse.

He asked Chief Justice Helen Bowskill to impose more than the minimum 20 years without parole for De Klerk, who he called the instigator of the killing.

“This was an evil crime. The defendants are purely dangerous men. The community must be protected. They are not interested in rehabilitation,” Cook said.

The jury began deliberating on Tuesday afternoon after hearing evidence and closing statements over eight days.

Andrew Walsh was the victim of an “evil crime”.Credit: Nine News

Walsh’s mother read from a victim impact statement, telling Bowskill her son had been far too trusting of people he thought were his friends but who killed him in extremely terrifying circumstances.

“We found out the vile and inhumane way he was murdered and his body disposed of,” she said.

“We only recovered from the coroner a bag of skeletal material that was unrecognisable.”

Searston’s barrister, Anna Cappellano, said her client had hit “rock bottom” in the months before he killed Walsh due to his heavy drug use.

“In his words, he ‘just didn’t care any more about anyone or anything’,” she said.

De Klerk’s barrister, David Funch, said his client had been a talented baseball player who became involved in drugs while on a sports scholarship in the US.

“There is evidence to suggest my client was the lesser involved [in the murder],” Funch said.

Bowskill said the murder was despicable and the treatment of Walsh’s body disrespectful.

“That was a cruel and violent assault on this man, lasting for a considerable amount of time, involving stabbing with knives,” she said.

“One of the most disturbing aspects was the phone call you made in 2022 in which you were laughing about what happened ... it was chilling.”

The defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment, with Searston to serve 20 years and De Klerk 22 years before being eligible for parole.

As a South African citizen, De Klerk faces a mandatory deportation process upon release.

AAP