John Peros, former boyfriend of Shandee Blackburn, on trial for mine site assault

The man found by a coroner to be responsible for the death of Shandee Blackburn told a man ‘all police officers should be stabbed and shot’ then beat him, a court has heard.

John Peros with Shandee Blackburn in Mackay.

The man found by a coroner to be responsible for the stabbing death of his former girlfriend Shandee Blackburn told a male work colleague “all police officers should be stabbed and shot” then beat him as he screamed for help, a Perth court has heard.

John Peros is on trial in the Perth Magistrates Court for assault occasioning bodily harm over an incident at a Pilbara mine site in June 2020, two months before coroner David O’Connell found Mr Peros killed Blackburn in the central Queensland town of Mackay in 2013.

Mr Peros had been found not guilty of Blackburn’s murder by a Supreme Court jury in 2017, and maintained his innocence throughout the 2020 inquest.

“Miss Blackburn died due to injuries sustained during an incident involving violence with Mr John Peros, who used a bladed instrument,” Mr O’Connell found in August 2020. “The assault was a very deliberate and targeted assault.“

Mr Peros was working for BHP at its Area C operation outside the West Australian town of Newman when he is alleged to have repeatedly punched and kicked contract fitter Alexander Gell in the face and head as Mr Gell held his arms up to try to protect himself and yelled for him to stop.

Mr Gell told the court that Mr Peros was standing next to him at work on June 8, 2020, as he began watching a news video on his phone showing police being attacked in a Black Lives Matter protest. “I said I thought it was harsh and it was wrong and he said ‘All police officers should be stabbed and shot and everything else’,” Mr Gell told the court.

Giving evidence from a remote location by video link, Mr Gell said he told Mr Peros he had friends and family in the service and asked him “How would you like it if they were your friends and family in that situation”. He said Mr Peros replied: “Don’t threaten my family.” Mr Gell said he called Mr Peros a moron and left.

He said the next day, as they worked on a broken excavator together, Mr Peros kept looking at him and when Mr Gell asked him what his problem was, he ­attacked. The prosecution alleges that when Mr Gell went to ground, Mr Peros continued the attack “resulting in significant injuries to the facial area and the loss of a tooth or bridge”. One of two men who ran to the scene, mine worker Robert Pasco, said Mr Gell’s face was covered in blood.

On Monday, Mr Peros’s then supervisor, Troy Verden, said he ran to the scene because he heard a man screaming. It was hard to describe the sound but it was a man in distress, he said.

“Alex was yelling ‘Help me he’s going to kill me’,” Mr Verden told the court.

“John was punching Alex ... I saw four or five punches.”

Mr Verden said Mr Peros was holding the back of Mr Gell’s shirt as he delivered the punches.

Mr Verden said he ran towards the pair and stood between them.

He said as he took Mr Gell away, Mr Gell yelled to Mr Peros: “I didn’t do anything, you f..king psycho.”

He said Mr Peros calmed down and said “I am in trouble, aren’t I?” which Mr Verden believed was a reference to his employment.

“I replied yes, yes, you are,” Mr Verden said.

Mr Peros’s lawyer, Craig Eberhardt KC, referred to the incident as a fight and asked Mr Gell if he had hit Mr Peros with a spanner before he was punched. Mr Gell denied this.

Mr Gell also denied that he had told Mr Peros: “Your family should die.” In his police statement, Mr Pasco said Mr Gell had told him he had said those words to Mr Peros.

The trial continues