Kudla shed murderer Keith Yandle argues with prosecutors, accuses them of lying, during hearing over killing of Steven Murphy

The drug grower who murdered defenceless man Steven Murphy has exploded in court, with a judge telling him to be silent.

As his victim’s loved ones spoke of their pain and loss, Kudla shed murderer Keith Yandle shifted in the Supreme Court dock and avoided their gaze.

When they told him he had shown no remorse for murdering Steven Murphy, shamed his own family and would not be missed, he became visibly uncomfortable.

But when prosecutors said it was clear he was “armed and ready for confrontation”, not acting in self-defence as he has repeatedly claimed, Yandle’s composure broke.

“Can you prove that? Can you prove that? That’s a lie,” he said on Monday despite urgings from his counsel.

Justice Anne Bampton silenced him, saying: “Absolute quiet, Mr Yandle - we will have absolute quiet.”

Keith Yandle, co-accused of murdering Steven Murphy. Picture: 7NEWS Adelaide

Yandle, 48, was found guilty at trial of having murdered Mr Murphy – who was cowering, unarmed and defenceless – in February 2023.

Mr Murphy had been sleeping rough inside the Kudla shed where Yandle grew cannabis, and was shot multiple times at close range.

Yandle reneged on a plea bargain after ensuring the case against his son and former co-accused, Marco, had been downgraded to the charge of assisting an offender.

Marco is serving a suspended sentence.

In her victim impact statement on Monday, Mr Murphy’s mother Debra said his loss still “hits my chest like an open wound”, and was a “tearing feeling that doesn’t go away”.

“You always want your child to return so you can get that feeling when they hug you,” she said.

“Never did I believe one of mine would just disappear, never to hug or say ‘I love you’ (again).”

His sister, Jasmine Mulholland, told Yandle he had robbed the world of a kind, loving and selfless man.

“Steve was the kind of man you could never live up to... you will continue to be unheard and unmissed for a very long time,” she said.

Mr Murphy’s sons said they hoped Yandle would be “haunted” and “terrorised” by their father “until you cannot sleep”.

His partner, Danielle Rogers, said Yandle was “a heartless pig” who deserved only to “rot in hell”.

James Marcus, for Yandle, said his client had always acknowledged killing Mr Murphy, and had only insisted his crime was not murder.

That, he said, showed “an element of contrition” over the incident, which he maintained was a response to Mr Murphy’s earlier trespasses on the property.

The intent to murder, he said, formed only seconds before the incident and was not the result of a planned confrontation.

“One needs to be very careful in taking a microscope to inferring what was happening in Yandle’s mind,” he said.

“It’s inexcusable, but to some extent understandable, why he acted the way he did.”

Justice Bampton will sentence Yandle in July.

MORE TO COME

Originally published as Kudla shed murderer Keith Yandle argues with prosecutors, accuses them of lying, during hearing over killing of Steven Murphy