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Co-accused blame each other during murder trial following death of Danielle Easey, near Newcastle

There has been a blame game between two co-accused at the murder trial into the death of Danielle Easey, a Lake Macquarie woman, whose body was found in a creek.

The court has heard Ms Easey, 29, was mutilated, her body wrapped in plastic and dumped in Cockle Creek at Killingworth, near Newcastle in 2019.

She was believed to have been killed two weeks before her body was dumped.

Justin Kent Dilosa and Carol Marie McHenry have pleaded not guilty to murder and are jointly on trial in the NSW Supreme Court.

The co-accused and Ms Easey were all part of the local drug scene together.

The court has been told Mr Dilosa murdered Ms Easey at Ms McHenry's Narara house on the Central Coast.

In a police interview played in court, Ms McHenry said she was asleep on the lounge when she awoke to see Mr Dilosa in her bedroom attacking Ms Easey with a hammer and knife.

When Ms McHenry was asked directly during the interview if she had anything to do with the murder or any involvement, she rejected that.

"No, no, no I didn't. She was one of my friends, it is not in me. He [Mr Dilosa] petrifies me," Ms McHenry said.

When told during the police interview about a witness who said Ms McHenry had made admissions about the stabbing, she denied this.

"That is bulls**t. no frickin way," she said.  

'She had to go'

In his evidence, Mr Dilosa told the court that on the night of the alleged crime he made dinner for himself and the two women and then went to his van, which was parked outside, where he fell asleep.

Mr Dilosa said he then went back into the house and Ms McHenry said that they had to go and that "Danielle was still in a bedroom".

He told the court that he jumped in the driver's seat of a car and that he and Ms McHenry drove back towards the Cardiff Chicken factory where he lived, stopping at a friend's place along the way.

Mr Dilosa told that court that mid-journey he was asked by Ms McHenry to stop and that she later started crying.

"Carol started crying, [saying], 'I don't know what I have done, she had to go', and kept repeating herself," Mr Dilosa said.

Mr Dilosa said Ms McHenry showed him a bag in the boot of the car they were in.

"There was a knife and hammer and a piece of material and there was blood on whatever material was," he told the court.

The court heard the pair then went to a friend's house and threw the two bloody weapons into a bonfire.

Returning to the scene

In his evidence to the court, Mr Dilosa said the following morning his co-accused wanted to return to the crime scene.

"When she woke up she said 'We needed to get rid of the body ' and wanted some ideas," he said.

"It was clear at that stage, I believed, and I made an assumption that she killed Danielle."

Mr Dilosa told the court that he grabbed some gaffer tape and that he, Ms McHenry and a friend returned to the Narara home.

Once there, Mr Dilosa said he lifted up Ms Easey's arm as she lay motionless on his co-accused's bed.

The court was previously told Ms Easey's body was moved in Mr Dilosa's van to the chicken factory where he lived and stored in a cupboard before being dumped in the creek.

A passing motorist saw the body in the creek and called police.

The trial continues.

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