Shooting sparked by altercation
Court hears shock alleged claim
A CROWN prosecutor has opened the murder trial against Kevin Patrick Hanley with a stunning claim about what the accused said to police just after Matthew Morcus was shot dead near Millmerran in 2016.
A Supreme Court jury of seven women and five men were told the late-night shooting at a Cypress Gardens address was sparked by a previous altercation at the Millmerran Bowls Club that same day.
Opening the Crown case yesterday, prosecutor Mark Green detailed the evidence it planned to present against Hanley, including an alleged admission made to officers in the wake of the fatal incident.
“You’ll hear he (Hanley) told police that ‘I didn’t mean to kill the c***, I was just gonna shoot him in the leg because that’s what he’s like, I shot him, I killed him, I didn’t mean to do that, I didn’t mean to go that f***ing far’,” Mr Green said.
Painting a picture of what the Crown alleges happened the night 46-year-old Mr Morcus died, Mr Green told the court a witness saw accused Hanley with the deceased at his property before eventually realising he was carrying a gun at his doorstep.
“(A witness) will tell you it is only at that point, with Hanley approaching the door, that she saw what he had was a rifle or a gun of some kind,” Mr Green said.
Mr Morcus’ father Alphonsus was one of the first people to take the stand and give evidence yesterday, telling the court he confronted the man accused of killing his son in the wake of the shooting.
“I put it to you that (Hanley) told you that there was a bit of an argument and the next thing the gun went off,” Hanley’s defence lawyer Michael Copley said.
“Yes,” Alphonsus Morcus replied.
Mr Copley put to two witnesses claims they heard his client say “I’m going to kill him” when leaving the bowls club after a physical altercation between Hanley and Mr Morcus were not accurate.
A number of witnesses testified under oath that they saw the altercation in the bowls club on October 13, 2016. Later that night, Mr Morcus died of a gunshot wound to the chest.
His partner at the time, Rachel Binns, will continue to give evidence when the trial resumes today.
She is one of 39 people expected to take to the stand this week.
The trial before Justice Martin Burns continues.