Decapitated teen's head 'used as bowling ball'
SIMON O'BRIEN
16/07/2008 2:41:33 PM
A Brisbane man repeatedly stabbed and then helped decapitate a teenage boy in a "thrill kill", a court heard today.
James Patrick Roughan, 28, is on trial in Brisbane's Supreme Court, charged with the murder of 17 year-old Morgan Jay Shepherd.
It is alleged Roughan and another man, Christopher Clark Jones, 24, were drinking at Roughan's Sandgate home on March 29, 2005 when a fight broke out.
Roughan is accused of repeatedly punching and stomping on the boy before using a knife to stab him 133 times.
Jones has already been convicted of the murder.
"The body was then dealt with in a barbaric way," prosecutor David Meredith said.
"The head of the deceased was sawed or chopped off and it was seperated and not buried with the body.
"It appears on the face of it to be a thrill kill."
Mr Meredith said Jones also told friends that Roughan used the head like a puppet and a bowling ball, which Roughan denied.
The court heard Roughan and Jones' friends and neighbours would be called as witnesses in the trial and would tell the jury how the men, both of Sandgate, borrowed a car and then drove to Dayboro in Brisbane's north to bury Mr Shepherd's body in a shallow grave, before later burying him again.
The court was told Mr Roughan had already pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse and being accessory after the fact to murder, but not guilty to murder.
However, prosecutors said the Crown would not accept the alternative charge because evidence would show Roughan was directly involved in the crime.
He said former friends of the men would give testimony that they had conversations in which Roughan was implicated in the murder and that a wound on Jones' hand was a result of Roughan accidently stabbing him while stabbing Mr Shepherd.
It is alleged that in one conversation, Jones claimed had Roughan stuck his hand up Mr Shepherd's decapitated head and "used it as a puppet", however Roughan denied it.
Roughan has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
The trial is expected to finish late next week.
canberratimes.com.au |
