Third man in stab case ‘unreliable’
A MAN who was present on the night two of his friends were slain in mysterious circumstances at Alva Beach in 2018 has been described as “self-serving” and an “unreliable witness” by a coroner investigating the deaths.
Louis Bengoa has denied involvement in the unlawful entry to the home of the man who fatally stabbed Corey James Christensen and Thomas Ian Davy in what police determined was self-defence.
In handing down findings of an inquest into the stabbings, coroner Jane Bentley said that on the night of September 30, Candice Locke and her boyfriend, Mr Davy, had been at an NRL grand final party and after an argument between the pair, Ms Locke asked Mr Bengoa to take her for a ride on his golf buggy.
The court heard that during the ride Ms Locke fell and fractured her shoulder and while she at first got back on, she later asked to be let off and hid from Mr Bengoa, who went and picked up her boyfriend’s other friend, Mr Christensen, who helped him look for her.
Ms Locke got back on the buggy with the two men before again fleeing, running to Dean Webber’s house. She had never met the then 19-year-old before.
The coroner said Mr Bengoa was the only person who might have been able to give an account of what happened outside Mr Webber’s house after Ms Locke entered it.
“Unfortunately Mr Bengoa was an unreliable and unhelpful witness,” she said.
“He initially provided a self-serving version of events to police on 1 October 2018, which was inconsistent with his later statements.
“Throughout the investigation and his evidence at the inquest he minimised his own conduct as much as possible.”
The court heard Ms Locke would not come out of Mr Webber’s house so Mr Bengoa and Mr Christensen had picked up Mr Davy and returned to the home with him.
“It is unknown what Mr Davy was told by Mr Bengoa,” the coroner said.
“It is unlikely that Mr Bengoa told Mr Davy that Ms Locke had hurt her shoulder falling from the buggy in which he was driving her along the beach and they were going to look for her.
“Mr Bengoa did not want anyone to know that Ms Locke had hurt her shoulder while he was driving her in the buggy.
“It is likely that he was concerned that he would face consequences for driving her in the buggy whilst he was significantly intoxicated and during which she suffered an injury.”
The coroner said she also doubted Mr Bengoa’s evidence that he was not involved at all in the entry into Mr Webber’s house and found he had “no interest in Ms Locke’s welfare or concern for her safety”. During the inquest, the court heard Ms Locke arrived on Mr Webber’s doorstop injured and terrified.
She claimed she had been pushed out of the moving vehicle and was being pursued by “really psycho” men and Mr Webber allowed her to come inside.
Evidence was put before the coroner that Mr Davy and Mr Christensen were stabbed by a terrified Mr Webber when they tried to break into the home to get to Ms Locke. Mr Webber was never charged over the fatal stabbing after police found he had acted in self-defence.