By Robyn Wuth
A tenant accused of beating his 74-year-old landlady to death and splattering the lounge room with blood washed away the evidence in her swimming pool, a court has been told.
Jason Thomas King, 53, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Susan Walker on the Gold Coast in March 2022.
Walker was savagely beaten and choked to death with an extension cord, the Supreme Court was told.
The Molendinar home where Susan Walker was found dead.
The severity of blows sprayed blood across the room, leaving stark red stains across the walls, floor and furniture.
Crime scene photographs shown to the jury drew gasps of shock from family and friends in the courtroom gallery.
Walker had no pulse, her lips were blue and there were no signs of life when police officers arrived at the scene.
A post-mortem determined she had 54 distinct injuries – including a broken hyoid bone, a broken voice box, broken ribs and seven separate blows to her skull.
The trauma was so severe, pathologists said the impact repeatedly battered her brain against her skull.
“She was bleeding profusely from her injuries and she would be found dead in the lounge room … surrounded by her own blood,” prosecutor Elizabeth Kelso told the jury in her closing argument.
“Miss Walker had bruises and lacerations to her face, her arms and to her knees, consistent with her coming down hard on her knees in the course of the struggle.
“Almost all of her left ribs were broken and some of her right ribs were broken as well.”
A trail of bloody footprints led from her body toward the pool, where the Crown argued King washed away trace evidence and blood spatter before raising the alarm.
Forensic officers found traces of King’s DNA under Walker’s fingernails, the court was told.
Days before the killing, Walker had tired of King after his stoush with another resident, giving him four weeks to pack up and move out.
King had been drinking, and was angry and bitter after being evicted, the Crown alleged.
He had been on a “good wicket at Ms Walker’s house”, Kelso told the jury.
“He liked living there, and he was paying $165 a week, and if he fell behind, she let him make up the rent in other ways, doing odd jobs around the house,” she said.
“At the time she died, he had just $1.06 in his bank account. It wouldn’t have been easy for him to find another place to live and certainly not one as accommodating as Ms Walker’s home.
“He had nowhere to go. Ms Walker came home … he confronted her in the lounge room, and his anger overwhelmed him, and he assaulted her.”
King earlier gave evidence to deny killing Walker.
Defence barrister Jason Buckland had earlier argued King was not guilty, saying his client had found his landlady’s body at the residence.
Kelso dismissed King’s evidence as a lie to disguise the fact he had brutally murdered Walker.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations on Monday.
AAP
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