An Irish murder trial witness in Australia, Mr Lee McLaughlin, yesterday denied blaming a friend, Mr Trevor Stokes, for murder so he could pick up a £50,000 reward and avoid prosecution himself.
Police offered the reward for information on the murderer of Mr Greg Bebensee (20), who was killed in an attack with a hatchet in a Darwin suburb last year.
Mr McLaughlin (26), from Ballymena, Co Antrim, told Mr Stokes's defence barrister, Mr Jon Tippitt, that he had not tried to claim the reward. Later Mr Tippitt asked Mr McLaughlin: "Isn't it a fact that the only thing that lies between you and charges is the conviction of this man?"
The witness admitted he did not have immunity from prosecution for the murder of Mr Bebensee, but added: "I went to police because I couldn't keep the information Trevor had given me a secret any longer. I had to tell someone."
Mr McLaughlin claims he heard the accused, Mr Trevor Stokes (26), of Naas, Co Kildare, admit the murder on a number of occasions. But in an hour of cross-examination at Darwin Supreme Court, the witness confessed he told police lies about his role in concealing evidence.
Mr McLaughlin admitted it was he, not Mr Stokes, who hid a wallet belonging to the victim, contrary to his original police statement. He said: "At that stage I didn't want to implicate myself."
The witness has also confessed to a credit-card fraud while working in Singapore in 1998. Mr Tippitt tried to paint a picture of Mr McLaughlin as a "withdrawn" character envious of his friend's socialising skills, musical talent and ability to speak Irish. Earlier Mr McLaughlin told Mr Rex Wilde, prosecuting, he was not the one who killed Mr Bebensee in June of last year. He said he had nothing to do with the savage attack and claimed Mr Stokes woke him at their campsite on the morning of the murder and made a confession.
He said Mr Stokes complained that blood had spattered on to his face and hammer-axe as he bludgeoned his victim. Mr McLaughlin claimed he followed the accused to a darkened toilet block at their campsite after hearing the confession. "I watched him wash the hammer and his face. Something came off the hammer but I couldn't say that it was blood."
Mr McLaughlin denied knowing or ever meeting the victim. He said he did not believe his friend's alleged initial confession. But after reading a report of the crime in a local newspaper Mr McLaughlin said his reaction was: "S . . ., I can't believe this is happening." Later the witness claimed Mr Stokes hid their combination hatchet, which is also a tool used for camping, at a roadside as the pair fled south from Darwin a day after the murder.
Mr Stokes has pleaded not guilty to murder. He faces a mandatory life sentence without parole if convicted. Crossexamination of Mr McLaughlin will resume today.