The sister of a woman who was allegedly killed by her own nephew has emotionally recounted finding the 64-year-old’s body during her evidence to a Supreme Court murder trial.
Steven Leslie Hainsworth, 49, is standing trial accused of murdering his aunt Beverley Hanley, in October 2010, along with his neighbour, Phyllis Harrison, 71, in 1998 and Mount Gambier pensioner Stephen Newton, 55, in 2011.
Cheryl McGee sobbed as she described finding Ms Hanley’s body in a doorway at her sister’s Elizabeth North home.
“I went to her bedroom and she wasn’t in it but the room was a mess. I couldn’t believe how messy it was because she was a person who made sure everything had a place,” she said.
“It was upside down. Everything was thrown everywhere.
“Bedroom two was a bit messy as well … things were opened, drawers opened, wardrobes opened, there were a few things over the bed. Things were pulled out.”
Ms McGee said she checked the dining room before looking down the hallway where she saw her sister’s feet “on the way out to the back door”.
“I ran towards her feet and then I’ve seen her laying there,” she said.
“Her head’s on the down slope of the walkway down into the back area … there was just a heap of blood.”
Ms McGee said she then felt to see if Ms Hanley was breathing before ringing triple-0.
“The lady wanted me to do CPR … she was just so cold, she was just laying there and she was just all blue,” she said.
Ms McGee told the court her sister owned a cricket bat that sat by the front door for protection.
Ms Hanley’s neighbour Leonard D’Agostino, 85, told the court he could remember hearing a thump which sounded like a “baseball bat hitting a skull” at about 10am on October 6.
“I heard some sort of conversation — ‘I saw you jump my fence. What do you want?’ — and a bit of an argument. It was muffled and he got a bit nasty … she knew him,” he said.
“The next thing I knew, it’s hard to describe, a whack, a thud, or a hit.
“Something, I don’t know what it was.”
Knife found almost decade after death of first alleged victim
Last week, the court heard evidence about a knife that was found around the corner from houses where Mr Hainsworth and his first alleged victim, his neighbour Phyllis Harrison, lived.
Alan Jones, a former Elizabeth South property owner, told the court he found a “single-blade knife” in 2007 while raking the garden of his property, which was near Mr Hainsworth’s home on Harvey Road.
“I was just sort of raking the area and putting the last bits in the trailer and something made a noise against the rake or the spade … I thought it was a rock,” he said.
“It was a mud-covered knife … it had brass inlay on each end and it looked like a single blade.”
Mr Jones said he phoned police almost immediately as he was aware a murder had occurred close by nearly 10 years earlier.
The prosecution showed Mr Jones a knife, which he identified as the same one he found in 2007.
“I never saw it opened up. I only saw it closed but that’s about the size and how I would describe it, like a wooden handle and brass inlays,” he said.
Mr Hainsworth’s partner in 1998, Helen Organ, last week told the court she was with Mr Hainsworth on the morning of March 3 when prosecutors allege he killed Ms Harrison.
She said she dropped him off at Andrews Farm to go yabbying with her children in the afternoon, before picking them up about 5pm.
The trial before Supreme Court Justice Adam Kimber, without a jury, continues.