In short:
Lawyers have delivered their closing statements in the cold case murder trial of Steven Johnson, who is accused of killing Christopher Jarvis in 2006.
asserted
who → deliver → 2006
Prosecutors say Mr Johnson murdered Mr Jarvis over unpaid rent, while the defence says the accused had nothing to do with the disappearance.
asserted
accused → say → disappearance
The jury is expected to begin deliberations next week.
asserted
jury → expect → deliberations
A Supreme Court jury will soon begin deliberating in the trial of Steven Fredereick Johnson, who is charged with murdering a Warrnambool father who disappeared more than 20 years ago.
asserted
who → begin → father
Mr Johnson, 74, has pleaded not guilty murdering Christopher Jarvis, who was 38 when he disappeared from his Wangoom home on June 13, 2006.
asserted
he → plead → June
During the 21-day trial in Warrnambool, Crown prosecutors said Mr Johnson, a former police officer and landfill operator, orchestrated a violent attack on Mr Jarvis, his tenant, over $2,210 in unpaid rent.
asserted
Johnson → say → rent
But Mr Johnson's lawyers told the court he wanted to resolve the dispute lawfully and was not involved in the disappearance.
asserted
he → tell → disappearance
Mr Jarvis's body has never been found.
asserted
body → find → ?
Prosecutors said Mr Johnson orchestrated a violent ambush on Mr Jarvis in his driveway before he left for work early that morning.
asserted
he → say → work
The Crown said Mr Johnson fired a starter pistol in Mr Jarvis's ear, causing him to bleed from the head, before bundling him into his own car.
asserted
him → say → car
Prosecutors said Mr Johnson then drove the man to the nearby Framlingham Forest, where Mr Johnson allegedly killed Mr Jarvis by hitting him over the head with a baseball bat before he buried him in a shallow grave.
uncertain
he → say → grave
They told the court Mr Johnson then organised for Mr Jarvis's car to be torched 20 kilometres away at Thunder Point, a coastal lookout near Warrnambool.
asserted
car → tell → Warrnambool
During closing arguments, Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson KC told the court circumstantial evidence supported the Crown's case.
asserted
evidence → tell → case
Mr Gibson said this included that Mr Jarvis vanished the day before the men were due to appear at a contested hearing in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) over the rental dispute.
asserted
men → say → dispute
The court heard Mr Johnson wanted to be paid the overdue rent and had sought to evict his tenant from the property, while Mr Jarvis refused to pay rent or leave as he said his landlord owed him money for plumbing works and materials.
"It was no coincidence that [Mr Jarvis] went missing the day before that court case,"Mr Gibson said.
asserted
Gibson → hear → works
Mr Gibson told the jury hostility and friction between the men had been growing in the lead-up to the disappearance.
asserted
hostility → tell → disappearance
He also pointed to evidence that Mr Johnson inexplicably graded the gravel driveway in front of Mr Jarvis's home in the hours after the alleged ambush.
asserted
Johnson → point → ambush
The Crown told the court this was an attempt to conceal the presence of blood and other biological matter.
asserted
this → tell → blood
Mr Gibson told the jury Mr Johnson's behaviour after a November 2022 police interview prior to his arrest implicated him in the crime.
asserted
behaviour → tell → crime
The court heard Mr Johnson allegedly said, "If they find out I'm an ex-copper, I'm f***ed.
uncertain
I → hear → ?
I'm too old to go to jail"
asserted
I → go → jail
Defence lawyer Patrick Doyle SC told the court the prosecution's case was based on speculation.
asserted
case → tell → speculation
"There's an inherent improbability in the Crown's case, and it involves layering one level of speculation on another,"Mr Doyle said.
asserted
Doyle → be → speculation
Mr Doyle said his client was attempting to use lawful means to resolve their rental dispute, including initiating the VCAT proceedings.
asserted
client → say → proceedings
The defence also said there were a number of key issues with the prosecution's case, including unreliable and inconsistent witness evidence, an improbable timeline of events, and that Mr Johnson kept the starter pistol allegedly used in the assault for 16 years despite the claims he took other steps to allegedly cover his tracks.
uncertain
he → say → tracks
He said the jury must find Mr Johnson not guilty if it has any doubt he committed the alleged crime.
asserted
he → say → crime
The jury will commence deliberations after Justice Andrew Tinney's charge to the jury on Monday.
asserted
jury → commence → Monday
The Aporia