Four men accused of murdering two people, whose bodies were found locked in a toolbox and submerged in a dam south of Brisbane, have pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court in Brisbane.
The bodies of Iuliana Triscaru and Cory Breton were found on February 11, 2016 — 18 days after they were last seen alive.
Waylon Walker, Stou Daniels and Davy Taiao pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder on the first day of their Supreme Court trial.
Trent Thrupp pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder but guilty to the lesser charges of manslaughter — but the crown did not accept his plea.
Mr Daniels, Mr Taiao and Mr Thrupp also pleaded not guilty to two counts of torture.
Prosecutor David Meredith said the crown would allege Mr Breton and Ms Triscaru were lured to a unit at Kingston on January 24, 2016, assaulted and bound with tape.
Mr Meredith told the court the pair were later locked in a toolbox, which was loaded onto a ute and driven to Scrubby Creek, where it was submerged.
The court heard Ms Triscaru and Mr Breton died from either asphyxiation or drowning.
"If these facts are true — that is in effect that [Iuliana Triscaru] and Cory [Breton] were put into a toolbox alive and then they were drowned — it's a breathtakingly evil event," Mr Meredith said.
Mr Meredith said the prosecution would allege Mr Thrupp and another man drove the toolbox to Scrubby Creek and dumped it.
"They were the actual acts … that caused the deaths," Mr Meredith said.
"But the other accused … the prosecution says are parties to that criminal act because of things that they did before and, to some extent, afterwards."
Lawyers for Mr Thrupp and Mr Daniels urged the jury to listen to all the evidence in a "fair-minded way" and to keep an open mind.
The trial is expected to run for four weeks.
