Ricky’s killer to learn fate
GEELONG’S Market et Square murderer Karl Hague ue will be sentenced today for stabbing teenager Ricky Balcombe ombe to death 23 years ago. o.
A Supreme Court t jury found the Bell Post Hill man, 44, guilty of the e murder in April after r a seven-week trial.
The prosecution pitched to Justice Lex Lasry for a “substantial” jail term m at a pre-sentence hearing last month, citing similar cases where convicted murderers were locked ked up for more than 20 years.
Hague already has as served about 670 days in custody stody for the murder, and that time will come off the sentence tence handed down today.
Meanwhile, the prospect of an appeal looms, according to his family, who continue to publicly maintain his innocence.
Hague’s time in jail for the murder was served in two stints. He spent about a year in custody from 1996-1997, when police first charged him as Balcombe’s killer.
But that murder charge was dropped in early 1998, and the murder investigation became a cold case.
That was until last year, when the homicide squad reopened the matter, with the help of a $1 million reward.
New witnesses came forward, some existing witnesses strengthened their statements, and, in August last year, Hague was again charged with the killing.
He stayed in custody from that time through the trial, which started in late February and ran until mid-April.
The jury was told Hague, then 21, ambushed Balcombe and his friend Paul Bellia near the lifts in the crowded Geelong shopping centre about 3.20pm on Friday, May 5, 1995.
Using a slim, 13cm kitchen knife, he stabbed Balcombe, 16, three times, once to the leg and two fatal blows that entered the boy’s back and penetrated his lungs and heart.
The public execution was witnessed by about 20 people, but few got a clear look at Hague’s face before he ran into the Little Malop St mall.
At the trial, police alleged Hague killed the boy as payback for a series of events on Malop St a fortnight earlier.
On that occasion, Balcombe’s friends and gangmates attacked a car with weapons as Hague huddled inside with his friends.
Hours earlier, Hague had bashed the smaller and younger Balcombe in an alcove.
The jury was told police heard about these run-ins within hours of Balcombe’s bloody death, and interviewed Hague and his friends just three days after the killing.
They charged him with the murder the following year, but later withdrew the charge because the key witness, Bellia, was wavering with mental health issues, and another had died.
Hague’s lawyers argued the new evidence that came forward last year was tainted by the years of publicity about the case and the prospect of the rich reward, and said the evidence against their client did not prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
But, after a full week of deliberation, the jury disagreed.