A man accused of murdering an elderly bookmaker in his Sydney garage three decades ago allegedly made admissions to his girlfriend and an associate about a robbery gone wrong, a jury has been told.
Terry John Gordon Hickson, 60, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Charles Skarratt, 72, who was attacked in the garage of his Woolwich home late on December 21 or early on December 22, 1989.
Opening the Crown case in the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday, prosecutor Craig Everson said Mr Skarratt had returned home from his usual Thursday evening work at the Dapto greyhound races.
Not long after sunrise on the Friday, his wife and neighbours found him gagged, bound and dead on the garage floor.
The bookmaker, who had been robbed of about $25,000, died from a combination of stab wounds to his chest and multiple blunt injuries.
The prosecutor said Hickson's then-girlfriend, Tania Morsman, was expected to testify that on December 21 he told her he was going to rob a bookmaker and took with him a bag containing a balaclava, knife and overalls,
When he later returned to her Wollongong flat, he allegedly said: "I tried to take the money off him and he struggled. He was quite a big man and he's quite strong."
Hickson allegedly said he stabbed the man and "twisted the knife in" before the man dropped to the floor.
Mr Everson said an associate of Hickson's also was expected to give evidence of being told by him: "We had a robbery and it went wrong and someone died. He was a big boy."
Mr Skarratt weighed 80kg and was 180cm tall.
The associate allegedly saw Hickson with a large sum of cash described as "the size of a soccer ball".
DNA obtained from blood spots in Mr Skarratt's car boot and on his sock matched the DNA profile of Hickson, the prosecutor said.
Hickson's lawyer, Philip Young SC, told the jury his client contended he was not present at the murder nor was he involved in the planning of a robbery.
He said the victim's second wife Monika Karpel - who now lives in Germany - had initially been a police suspect after her husband's will had been changed in her favour and after a number of monetary transactions.
Victoria and Peter Skarratt - children from the bookmaker's first marriage - told the jury that on the day their father died Ms Karpel ran around the home holding the will saying: "I get everything."
Earlier, Mr Young said while his client did not deny his DNA profile could not be excluded as matching that found on the sock and in the boot, the defence would put forward an alternative explanation.
Hickson's relationship with Ms Morsman had "tempestuous" and became "utterly poisonous" at the end, Mr Young said.
Her evidence would be challenged as "a complete fabrication on her part to inculpate someone she had grown to hate".
The associate's testimony also would be challenged, with Hickson denying he made any admissions about the murder or robbery.
The trial continues before Justice David Davies.
Australian Associated Press
