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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Sam Rigney

Accused killer's story of why he dumped Danielle Easey's body 'ludicrous', jury told

The house at Narara where Danielle Easey was allegedly murdered in 2019. Her body was later dumped in Cockle Creek. Justin Dilosa and Carol McHenry are on trial charged with her murder. Picture supplied by NSW Police

Accused killer Justin Dilosa's story about covering up the murder of Danielle Easey, dumping her body in Cockle Creek and taking responsibility for the killing just to protect his co-accused and ex-partner is "inherently incredible" and should be rejected, a jury has been told.

Mr Dilosa and Carol McHenry have pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Easey, 29, at a home in Reeves Street at Narara in August, 2019, and are in the sixth week of a trial in the NSW Supreme Court.

The pair have pleaded not guilty and have pointed the finger at each other, both claiming they were asleep when the other stabbed and beat Ms Easey with a hammer. Ms McHenry has pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder, while Mr Dilosa has admitted to wrapping Ms Easey's body in black plastic and a doona and dumping it in the creek at Killingworth.

According to witnesses called during the trial, both Mr Dilosa and Ms McHenry made admissions to stabbing or killing Ms Easey in the days after her death.

Ms McHenry denies making those admissions, while Mr Dilosa either denies confessing or says when he did he was lying to protect Ms McHenry.

Mr Dilosa gave evidence that after falling asleep in his van on the night of Ms Easey's death he knocked on Ms McHenry's front door and she told him: "we've got to go". He said on the drive up the M1 towards Cardiff, Ms McHenry became upset and told him: "I don't know what I've done. She had to go. I'll never see the kids again". He claimed Ms McHenry then showed him a bag containing a hammer, a knife and a bloody piece of clothing. He said he then burnt the weapons in a fire, went back to the house at Narara and wrapped Ms Easey's body in plastic before putting it in a cupboard and putting the cupboard in his van. He drove her body around before dumping it some 10 days later.

Mr Dilosa gave evidence that he dumped the body because he had "a long history" with Ms McHenry and did not want her children to lose their mother.

During his closing address on Monday, Crown prosecutor John Stanhope told the jury Mr Dilosa's version of dumping the body and claiming responsibility for the killing to protect Ms McHenry was "ludicrous" and should be rejected.

"These are extraordinarily lengths for someone not involved in the killing," Mr Stanhope said. "The Crown says you could not accept that he did that just to protect Carol McHenry."

Mr Stanhope said the jury should accept Mr Dilosa made the admissions to killing Ms Easey and find that they were genuine and honest confessions.

He said there were two ways for the jury to find both Mr Dilosa and Ms McHenry guilty of murder and in both scenario they would need to be satisfied the pair made genuine admissions to killing Ms Easey.

He said if the jury was not satisfied that both Mr Dilosa and Ms McHenry were guilty, they would still find Mr Dilosa guilty, calling the case against him "strong" and based on circumstantial evidence and the alleged admissions he made to a number of people.

The trial continues.

Justin Kent Dilosa and Carol Marie McHenry are on trial in NSW Supreme Court accused of murdering Danielle Easey in 2019.
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