In short:
Brian Robert Barnes is standing trial for the murder of 70-year-old Quambatook woman Merril Kelly.
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Barnes → stand → Kelly
The prosecution alleges Mr Barnes snuck into Ms Kelly's house and killed her after she banned him from the local pool.
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she → allege → pool
The trial continues in Bendigo.
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trial → continue → Bendigo
A court has heard a man snuck into a woman's bedroom in the middle of the night and killed her after she banned him from the local pool.
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she → hear → pool
Merril Kelly, 70, a community leader and president of the Quambatook Memorial Swimming Pool, was found dead in the town's cemetery in north-west Victoria in January 2025.
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Kelly → find → January
Brian Robert Barnes has pleaded not guilty to murder and is standing trial in the Supreme Court in Bendigo.
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Barnes → plead → Bendigo
The 68-year-old, known in his hometown of Quambatook as Bert, sat in the dock at the back of the courtroom wearing a white T-shirt and glasses.
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old → know → shirt
Crown prosecutor Patrick Bourke KC told the court today Mr Barnes allegedly admitted to his brother what he had done.
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he → tell → what
The court heard an autopsy found Ms Kelly died from head injuries.
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Kelly → hear → injuries
In his opening address, Mr Bourke told the jury a dispute arose after Ms Kelly arranged for Mr Barnes to fix a leak at the community swimming pool in November 2024.
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Barnes → tell → November
Ms Kelly texted Mr Barnes to say the work would be unpaid, and he replied saying she may need to pay him "with cake".
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she → texte → cake
The court heard Ms Kelly eventually gave Mr Barnes $200 in cash for the work, however, he then demanded $2,000, before escalating the figure owed to $2,500 and threatening legal action.
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he → hear → action
The day before the alleged murder, the court heard Mr Barnes went for a swim at the pool and was reprimanded by a volunteer for diving in the shallow end.
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Barnes → allege → end
Mr Bourke said Mr Barnes splashed the volunteer in the face, grabbed her glasses and threw them away.
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Barnes → say → them
The police were called and spoke to Mr Barnes at his home.
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police → call → home
The court heard later that day, about 8:20pm, Mr Barnes posted a video online talking about the incident and said he had been banned from the pool by Ms Kelly.
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he → hear → Kelly
The prosecution alleges Mr Barnes drove to Ms Kelly's house about 1:40am, likely entering through an unlocked door, and attacked her in her bedroom, "bashing her over the head".
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Barnes → allege → head
"The accused dragged [Ms Kelly] out the back door, down a brick paved path … along a gravel driveway and we say, put her in the back of his ute," Mr Bourke said.
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Bourke → accuse → ute
Mr Bourke said Mr Barnes drove to the Quambatook cemetery, about 4.5 kilometres away.
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Barnes → say → cemetery
"The accused relates to his brother and sister-in-law, that at the cemetery, he asked [Ms Kelly] why she'd not paid him for the work, she doesn't respond, 'so I then poured petrol on her and set her alight'," Mr Bourke told the court.
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Bourke → accuse → court
"[Mr Barnes] says to these two witnesses, 'she deserved it', that he made a 'foolproof plan', that she 'had to go'."
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she → say → plan
The court heard Mr Barnes had arrived at his brother's house about 4:30am.
Mr Bourke told the jury when Mr Barnes's brother asked him about some injuries to his face and arms, Mr Barnes told him "she bloody scratched me up".
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she → hear → me
CFA firefighters called to the cemetery fire discovered Ms Kelly's body about 5am, Mr Bourke said.
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Bourke → call → body
Mr Barnes was arrested the next day near Castlemaine in central Victoria.
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Barnes → arrest → Victoria
Mr Bourke said Ms Kelly was a carer for her husband who had late stage dementia, and they slept in separate bedrooms.
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they → say → bedrooms
He said her autopsy found extensive injuries to her head, and a black cable tie around her neck.
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autopsy → say → neck
The court heard neither elevated carbon monoxide levels nor soot was found in her body, suggesting she was already dead when her body was allegedly set on fire.
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body → hear → fire
The prosecution opening will continue when the trial returns tomorrow, before the defence response from barrister David Cronin SC.
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trial → continue → SC
The Aporia
