Murder trial under way
Court hears alleged killer changed stories Training brain to quit sugar
THE alleged killer of Cooktown’s David McLelland told police the schizophrenic pensioner stabbed himself more than 10 times and slashed his own throat, a court heard.
Samuel Austin Wells lived next door to Mr McLelland at the time of his death on November 3 last year.
It is alleged Mr Wells, then 21, stabbed his neighbour 13 times, penetrating his heart, lung and liver.
Mr McLelland died on the kitchen floor of his Hagarty Close home.
“Due to the nature of his injuries, he could not be resuscitated,” Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller told Cairns Supreme Court.
“He was lying face down, wearing cargo shorts, in a pool of his own blood.”
Mr Wells has pleaded not guilty in the trial that began yesterday.
Mr Fuller told the court the defendant gave police two stories – first claiming he had found Mr McLelland bleeding and unconscious on the floor, then saying that he had fought his neighbour and stabbed him in the chest in self-defence.
“He said he ended up on the ground with David on top of him and was able to push the knife with David on top of him – he was able to push the knife into David’s chest twice,” Mr Fuller said. “He said David picked up the knife and slashed his own throat.”
The crown alleged Mr McLelland may have been slain out of greed for a cash deposit left from the sale of his Holden Commodore.
“The possible reason behind all of this was that $1000 sitting … in the house,” Mr Fuller said.
The defendant’s father, Robert Wells, told the court he saw his son return from Mr McLelland’s house with “blood on his hands”.
“It looked like they had been dipped Wells said
“He said ‘I just did old mate next door – you should go check on him’. I thought it was some sort of joke – I thought he had killed one of the turkeys or peacocks that were in the yard.”
The trial continues. in paint,” Mr
editorial@cairnspost.com.au facebook.com/TheCairnsPost www.cairnspost.com.au twitter.com/TheCairnsPost
MIND training could be the answer to the nation’s obesity crisis, as new research reveals sugar changes the brain in the same way that alcohol and smoking addiction does.
The findings were released yesterday at the meeting of the Australasian Neuroscience Society’s in Brisbane.
It comes as scientists have begun trialling a mobile phone app to regain control of the circuits in the brain that are hijacked on unhealthy diets.
Queensland University of Technology Associate Professor Selena Bartlett found the quit-smoking drug, Champix, could be used to treat sugar addiction in animals.
Prof Bartlett found, in the long term, sugar and nicotine worked on the same receptors in the brain, acting on the same reward and pleasure centres.
And just like drug addicts needed larger “hits” over time to get the same reward, they found the same was true for sugar consumption.
Associate Professor Bartlett has now used those findings to design a brain training program, which works by educating adults about poor food choices and training them to beat the stress-eating response.