HOPELESSLY deadlocked, the jury in the trial of one of Danielle Easey's alleged killers has been discharged after being unable to reach a unanimous or majority verdict.
Justin Kent Dilosa, of Cardiff, had faced a lengthy trial in NSW Supreme Court accused of murdering Ms Easey at a home at Narara in 2019 before the 29-year-old's body was dumped in Cockle Creek at Killingworth.
Mr Dilosa had pointed the finger at his ex-partner and co-accused, Carol McHenry, who the jury on Monday found guilty of murdering her friend, Ms Easey.
But after hearing about two months of evidence and submissions and deliberating on and off the past two weeks, the jury wrote notes to say they were unable to reach a verdict in the case.
They were given a majority verdict direction on Monday, with Justice Robertson Wright saying he would accept a verdict of 10 of the 11 remaining jurors, but the jury wrote another note on Thursday at midday saying they remained split.
Justice Wright discharged the jury and adjourned Mr Dilosa's matter until February when he is expected to get a date for a re-trial.
He remains behind bars and had admitted during his evidence in the trial to disposing of Ms Easey's body in Cockle Creek after her murder.
The stalemate comes after McHenry was on Monday found guilty of murdering Ms Easey, the jury left with no doubt that she had killed her friend in the bedroom of a home in Reeves Street on August 19, 2019, before her body was dumped in Cockle Creek.
After she was stabbed and struck with a hammer, Ms Easey, a 29-year-old mother, was left in the bedroom overnight before her body was wrapped in plastic and a doona and put inside an empty cupboard.
The cupboard, with Ms Easey's body inside, was then driven around in a van before it was dumped in Cockle Creek at Killingworth where it was found, partially submerged, on August 31, 2019.
Meanwhile, in the days before the body was discovered, McHenry had began using Ms Easey's phone and her Facebook account in a bid to make it appear she was still alive and defraud Ms Easey's mother of $50.
The prosecution case against McHenry was based on a number of admissions she made to associates about the death of Ms Easey, including telling one man "we f---ed up and killed this bitch".
McHenry gave a number of police interviews, where she claimed she had woken to Mr Dilosa attacking Ms Easey and was under duress and his direction when she contacted Ms Easey's mother.
But Mr Dilosa gave evidence that he had fallen asleep in his van on the night Ms Easey was murdered at the house at Narara and claimed McHenry had later confessed, telling him: "I don't know what I've done. She had to go."
McHenry will be sentenced in April next year.
More to come.
