An elderly regional postmaster died after a drunken and “shameful” service station attack, a court has been told.
John Burke, 73, died in hospital “unable to communicate in any meaningful way” almost 11 weeks after he was accused of being a paedophile and assaulted during a late night visit to his local service station.
Troy Matthew Maskell, 44, is facing trial before the Victorian Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to a charge of manslaughter.
His lawyers, led by barrister Julia Munster, told the jury there was no dispute Mr Maskell injured the elderly man in a “stupid” attack, but say he is not responsible for the death.
On Thursday, crown prosecutor Stephanie Clancy outlined the circumstances surrounding Mr Burke’s death at a Shell service station near Strathmerton in Victoria’s north.
She told the jury Mr Burke, who lived alone behind the Strathmerton post office, would often regularly attend the service station at late hours to chat with attendants.
But the regular visit, just before 1am on August 8, 2021, would turn out to be his last.
Mr Burke had been standing in the store conversing with attendant Brenton North for about 10 minutes, when Maskell’s girlfriend and their 10-year-old daughter walked in.
The jury was told Mr Burke smiled and asked how they were, with the young girl responding: “really good”.
Mr Maskell’s girlfriend then launched into an “aggressive and erratic” tirade, abusing Mr Burke and calling him a paedophile – an “entirely unfounded” accusation, Ms Clancy said.
As Mr Maskell walked into the shop his girlfriend relayed the accusations, leading the accused man to ask Mr Burke “do we have a problem?”.
The accused killer then picked up a red 1L Maximus Isotonic sports drink which he threw “with force” at Mr Burke’s head.
Ms Clancy said he then kicked Mr Bourke’s left hip, who fell to the tiled floor, before stomping on his glasses and berating him.
Before leaving, Mr Maskell told Mr North to “wipe” the CCTV tape.
The jury was told Mr Burke remained alert and conversational following the incident, but began exhibiting signs of a brain injury hours later.
He was taken to hospital in Melbourne but his condition began deteriorating on August 16.
Mr Burke was placed in end of life care on October 15 before dying 13 days later.
In her opening address, Mr Maskell’s barrister Julia Munster said there was no dispute that her client attacked Mr Burke in the way described.
“From all accounts, he lived a rich life connected to his community and family,” she said.
“It is undeniably sad … there is no justification for those acts, they were shameful.”
She said the “two fundamental issues” in dispute was whether the assault was objectively dangerous, and whether it led to Mr Burke’s death.
“His actions, while shameful, stupid, unlawful and whatever else you might want to call them, did not cause Mr Burke’s death,” Ms Munster said.
Ms Clancy said the accused man was identified and arrested later the same day, allegedly telling police the night’s events were “very blurry” because he had drunk a lot.
She said the prosecution would argue a reasonable person would know Mr Maskell’s actions were dangerous.
“The case is that a reasonable person, in the accused’s position, would have realised throwing a 1L bottle and then kicking them on a hard tile floor would expose Mr Burke to a risk of serious injury,” Ms Clancy said.
“The prosecution’s case is that the accused’s acts were a substantial or significant cause of his death.”
Two members of Mr Burke’s family were present in court, wiping away tears as CCTV of the assault was played to the jury.
The two-week trial, before Justice Lex Lasry, continues.