Second alleged victim testifies in Matthew and Peter Gardiner’s trial for Dillon Willis’ alleged murder

Sam Salmon said Dillon Willis was crying and saying his name ‘and I just told him to keep running’ as the two men fled from Matthew and Peter Gardiner. Read the latest from the trial.

Police search for evidence at the Karama Shopping Centre in May 2021. Picture: Che Chorley

Sam Salmon didn’t see Matthew Gardiner stab Dillon Willis in the chest but he heard a thump “like punching a boxing bag” minutes before his dying mate collapsed into his arms, a court has heard.

Matthew Gardiner has pleaded guilty to Mr Willis’ manslaughter while both he and his brother Peter Gardiner have pleaded not guilty to his “common purpose” murder at the Karama shops in 2021.

On day three of the brothers’ Supreme Court trial on Thursday, Mr Salmon relived for the jury the night Mr Willis was killed.

He told the court he had been staying with Mr Willis at the time and spent the day with him on May 26 before eating dinner with his family and heading to the shops to hang out.

He said they were sitting on some pipes with another friend when a car pulled up beside them and two men got out, one of them wearing only a pair of shorts with two kitchen knives in the front.

Mr Salmon said the other man then walked behind Mr Willis and he heard a thump “like punching a boxing bag” before the shirtless man “tried to stab me” as they all ran away.

“If I didn’t get up and move I reckon he would have stabbed me in the back,” he said.

“As we were running (Dillon) was crying, he was saying my name and I just told him to keep running.”

Karama Plaza. Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

Mr Salmon said the two men gave chase for a short distance and he and Mr Willis headed for a relative’s house but found no one was home.

“Dillon collapsed on me as we ran through the gate, I could see blood coming from his chest, I took his shirt off and held pressure on the stab wound, called up triple 0 and they told me what to do,” he said.

Each of the brothers have also pleaded not guilty to reckless endangerment based on Peter’s actions in allegedly trying to stab Mr Salmon.

Under cross examination by Peter’s barrister, Peter Maley, Mr Salmon agreed he had told police he “never saw the shirtless man holding a knife”.

“It’s not contained in your statement, any suggestion that the man with no shirt on who had the two kitchen knives down his pants, there’s no suggestion that he tried to stab you,” Mr Maley said.

Mr Maley said when a police officer had “specifically asked” Mr Salmon if Peter tried to stab him, he had replied that “what I meant to say was I had the feeling”.

“You said I had the feeling that the male who was shirtless with the two knives sitting inside the front of his shorts was going to stab me,” he said.

“And then you said I never saw the shirtless man holding a knife – ‘I just saw the two knives in his pants’ – and that’s the truth, isn’t it sir?”

Mr Salmon replied: “Yep.”

“What you said today in evidence-in-chief when (the prosecutor) asked you a question about seeing the man with no shirt on holding a knife, that is untrue?” Mr Maley asked.

Mr Salmon replied: “Yes.”

The trial continues on Friday.

Alleged murderer’s partner testifies in Karama carpark stabbing trial

Wednesday, April 10: The partner of a man charged alongside his brother with murdering 20-year-old Dillon Willis in a Karama shopping centre car park has testified in the brothers’ Supreme Court trial.

Matthew and Peter Gardiner each pleaded not guilty to murder and reckless endangerment following the alleged knife attack on Mr Willis in May 2021.

The court previously heard Matthew stabbed Mr Willis to death and has pleaded guilty to his manslaughter while Peter slashed at his friend Sam Salmon, with both brothers allegedly jointly liable after having engaged in a “common purpose”.

On Wednesday, Peter’s partner Cianne Woolley told the court she drove the brothers to the shopping centre car park with the couple’s four-month-old daughter in the back seat.

She said prior to leaving the Discovery caravan park where they were staying for the night, Matthew and Peter had been drinking when Peter “asked me if we could drop Matthew off to a house in Karama”.

“(Matthew) was directing me to the location,” she said.

Crown prosecutor Ian Rowbottam asked Ms Woolley if Peter said “anything about the direction” but she said “I don’t really remember”.

“Just telling me to go … to a house,” she said.

Ms Woolley said Peter was “sometimes” telling her to “go straight” or “go left” but it was “mostly Matthew”.

“I couldn’t really hear (Peter) in the back, sorry, in the front,” she said.

“I wasn’t really paying attention to what they were saying because they were intoxicated and just talking.

Cianne Woolley said she and Peter Gardiner ‘stayed in the car for about five minutes’ after the stabbing, ‘just talking’ but she couldn’t remember about what. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

She said when the brothers got back into the car after the stabbing, Matthew had “said that he stabbed someone” but she couldn’t remember if Peter said anything.

“I think I was panicking so I don’t remember what I was saying, because of what happened, I was just scared,” she said.

After dropping Matthew off, Ms Woolley said she and Peter returned to the caravan park where they “stayed in the car for about five minutes”, “just talking” but she couldn’t remember about what.

“He was a little intoxicated,” she said.

“(After that) we went inside the cabin, (I) just sat around on the bed.”

When Mr Rowbottam questioned whether during the earlier conversation at the cabin there had been “any mention of Peter also getting dropped off” as well but she said she didn’t remember.

“Do you remember if you told the police this?” he said, reading from her statement.

“I thought this because when Peter was asking me in the cabin to take them to Karama he was saying ‘drop us off’.

“Was it more fresh in your memory on the 28th than it is now almost three years later?

“So is that a more accurate reflection of what was said?”

Ms Woolley replied: “Yes.”

The trial continues on Thursday.

‘I just finished stabbing c--ts’: Brothers face trial for alleged Karama carpark murder

Tuesday, April 9: A man who stabbed 20-year-old Dillon Willis to death in a Karama carpark and his brother who allegedly texted a mate about having “shanked them c--ts” have faced the first day of their joint murder trial.

Matthew and Peter Gardiner each pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court on Tuesday to Mr Willis’ murder after Matthew pleaded guilty to manslaughter following the stabbing in May 2021.

The brothers also each pleaded not guilty to recklessly endangering serious harm to his friend Sam Salmon by Peter allegedly trying to stab him during the same incident.

In his opening address to jurors, Crown prosecutor Ian Rowbottam said the prosecution case was that both men were engaged in a “common purpose” at the time “so each is guilty of the offence physically committed by the other”.

Mr Rowbottam said the brothers had been drinking together at the Discovery Holiday Park in Winnellie when Peter asked his partner Cianne Woolley to drive the three of them and his four-month-old daughter to Karama.

Matthew allegedly armed himself with a 15cm long knife while Peter allegedly armed himself with two other knives before they arrived at the shopping centre carpark on Kalymnos Dr about 11pm.

They found Mr Willis, Mr Salmon and a 17-year-old girl “simply talking between themselves” before Mr Rowbottam said the brothers got out of the car armed with their knives and a short conversation ensued.

“Very shortly thereafter, the Crown case is that Matthew Gardiner approached Dillon Willis from the right side and slightly behind him and without warning, the Crown case is, stabbed Willis with his right hand with full force to the centre of Willis’ chest,” he said.

“Willis attempted to move away from Matthew Gardiner but was stabbed at least once again in the centre of his back.

“At the same time as Matthew Gardiner stabbed Willis, Peter Gardiner removed one of the knives from his shorts with his left hand (and) attempted to stab Salmon, swinging the knife towards Salmon with his left hand, narrowly missing Salmon’s head and upper body as Salmon was in the process of turning around and running away.”

Mr Willis, Mr Salmon and the girl all ran away before the brothers left the area in the car and Matthew was dropped off before Peter returned to his cabin at the holiday park and they were both arrested the next morning.

Dillon Willis.

Mr Willis was rushed to Royal Darwin Hospital but he could not be revived.

Mr Rowbottam said a subsequent forensic analysis of Peter’s phone revealed he sent a message in response to a missed call that night saying “I just finished stabbing c—ts, what’s up?”, followed by another a few seconds later saying “delete my messages”.

Mr Rowbottam said a third message to another man said “Oi I shanked them c—ts up in Karama, I did it for you my brother, nobody’s going to talk shit”.

In his opening address, Matthew’s barrister Ian Read SC said while there was “no dispute” that his client “stabbed Mr Willis and caused his death and he accepts responsibility for that”, the Crown had to prove “specific intent”.

“That at the time of the stabbing, Mr Gardiner did not just intend to stab or intend to hurt Dillon but that he actually intended to kill him or he intended to cause him serious harm,” he said.

“This, for all practical purposes, is the central issue in the trial of Matthew Gardiner.”

In his opening, Peter’s barrister Peter Maley said the Crown would need to prove his client was guilty of murder by being “physically present at the time of the tragic event”.

“There’s a video of the entire tragic event that captures everything and it is absolutely horrific, the footage shows the final moments of a young man’s life, where he is, without warning and arguably, from behind, stabbed several times and ultimately fatally in the chest,” he said.

“(But) the prosecution need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Matthew Gardiner and Peter Gardiner entered into an agreement to commit an offence and that the offence of murder was committed, either in accordance with the agreement or in the course of carrying out the agreement.

“If ultimately the Crown fails to prove any of those elements beyond a reasonable doubt, then Peter Gardiner is entitled to the benefit of the doubt.”

The trial continues on Wednesday.

Originally published as Second alleged victim testifies in Matthew and Peter Gardiner’s trial for Dillon Willis’ alleged murder