A BATHURST Supreme Court jury was yesterday shown a blood-stained wooden stake and a stained knife that a crime scene investigator found at a Kelso house where a 27-year-old man suffered fatal injuries last year.
A 22-year-old Bathurst man, Ronnie Phillip Charles Lovett, is alleged to have used the knife to inflict fatal injuries on George Asprogiannis, also known as George Trindall, at the house in Bannerman Crescent.
Lovett – a shortish, solidly built young man – has pleaded not guilty to the murder between 10.30pm and 11pm on Sunday, August 10, 2008.
His trial for murder before the jury of six men and six women and Justice Barr opened at Bathurst Court House yesterday is expected to last about three weeks.
Crown prosecutor Peter Barnett yesterday gave an overview of the crime scene with police expert detective, Senior Constable Dane Kremers, giving evidence.
Constable Kremers told Mr Barnett he found a wooden stake “with dark stains on every face and both ends” at the house. He had taken swabs of the most heavily stained areas and photographs where he found the stake.
The detective had also found a Wallabies beanie, jacket and pair of underpants in the lounge room of the house. There had been red staining on the grey waistband of the pants, Constable Kremers said.
The constable had observed a bed with a blue mattress and orange coloured blanket “bunched” on the bed. There had been two pillows near the wall and end of the lounge that folded out to make the bed.
Red staining had been observed by Constable Kremers on carpet. There had been stains on the edge of the blue mattress and also the bed.
Constable Kremers said he unravelled the orange blanket and the large knife was on the bed.
Constable Kremers told Mr Barnett the blanket had covered the knife 330 millimetres with a 205mm blade from the tip to the handle.
Constable Kremers examined the knife among other items taken to the crime scene laboratory in Dubbo but found no fingerprints. He noted the knife had been grabbed, not leaving a fingerprint but residue from the interior part of a hand.
The examination of the knife had revealed blood staining in smears. The wooden stake found at Kelso had also been examined in the stained areas before being sent for further examination in Sydney.
Constable Kremers told Lovett’s barrister, Guy Newton that no fingerprints had been found on the knife. It had been as if the palm of a hand had been wrapped around the handle.
However, the detective said the texture of the handle did not reveal prints.
Mr Newton asked Constable Kremers whether DNA from the accused had been found on the handle. While Mr Barnett objected to the question, the detective had answered that there had been no DNA.
Detective Kremers also told Mr Newton the damage he saw on the external grille door had been “damage caused at some point in time, that was all he could say.”
The trial resumes this morning at 10am
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