A woman claims she killed a man, whose mutilated body was found near a busy train line, because she feared for her own life.
Kasha McIver, 39, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her housemate Matthew Warrington in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday alongside her co-offender Dylan Wyatt, 38.
Brendan Dalton, 54, was also found guilty of the same offence at trial in June.
Mr Warrington was killed sometime between July 16 and July 18, 2023, during a violent assault at a Chadstone home in Melbourne's southeast.
McIver and Wyatt were seen on CCTV footage entering the property through a side window shortly before 10am on July 16.
There was limited evidence about what happened next but crown prosecutor David Glynn told the court the couple killed Mr Warrington in an "unlawful and dangerous assault".
Wyatt then moved Mr Warrington's body into a wheelie bin and dumped the remains at the nearby Glen Waverley train line on the morning of July 18.
The killers then set the Chadstone property on fire and fled the scene.
Photos of Mr Warrington's hog-tied and mutilated body were taken by Wyatt and shared to his associates, the court was told.
Police only located Mr Warrington's remains along the train tracks after Wyatt was arrested on July 21.
He had a missing finger, tape around his neck and cuts behind his knees that suggested they had tried to dismember him.
An autopsy could not determine his exact cause of death although he may have been strangled.
The court was told in the days before the manslaughter, police raided the Chadstone property in connection to an unrelated aggravated burglary and discovered 2.5kg of 1,4-Butanediol.
McIver falsely told police she was responsible for the drugs, even though they actually belonged to Mr Warrington, and she was charged with drug trafficking.
McIver, Wyatt and Dalton then developed a plan to attack Mr Warrington because he let McIver take the blame, Mr Glynn told the court.
A series of messages between the trio were read aloud, including one where Dalton stated they should hurt Mr Warrington because he "f***ed with" McIver and he "didn't know what was coming".
In her police interview, McIvor told police "everything happened" because she was under duress from Wyatt, he was murderous and psychotic, and she did what she had to do to survive.
Her barrister Ruth Shann SC said McIver was fearful of Wyatt because he was allegedly physically abusive both in the lead-up to the manslaughter and the days afterwards.
Ms Shann told the court McIver had a traumatic upbringing and had since been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, severe personality disorder and an acquired brain injury.
Ms Shann's submissions will continue on Friday morning before lawyers for Wyatt and Dalton outline their defence to Justice James Gorton.
