An Irish murder trial witness, Mr Lee McLaughlin, was yesterday accused of being a violent man obsessed with money. The claim was made by defence lawyers trying to link Mr McLaughlin to the mugging and murder of an Australian, Mr Greg Bebensee (20), in Darwin last year.
The man being tried at Darwin Supreme Court for the murder is another Irishman and friend of Mr McLaughlin, Mr Trevor Stokes (26), from Naas. Diary entries made by Mr McLaughlin weeks after the killing were read to the court. Mr McLaughlin denied a claim by Mr Stokes's defence barrister, Mr Jon Tippitt, that he had a "fixation with money".
Earlier, he admitted having had an argument with Mr Stokes when they lived in Singapore in 1998. After the pair travelled to Australia, Mr McLaughlin claims Mr Stokes hacked Mr Bebensee to death with a hatchet and then confessed the crime to him.
Mr Stokes, who denies murder, faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted. Mr McLaughlin (26), from Ballymena, Co Antrim, gave evidence of the argument in Singapore. Later, a video was played of Mr McLaughlin telling police of a murder confession allegedly made by Mr Stokes. The video showed Mr McLaughlin telling detectives he and Mr Stokes had taken a taxi from their campsite into Darwin city on June 5th, 1999. They drank into the early hours of the next day, when the murder took place.
Mr McLaughlin had also told police that he and his friends stayed in town all day. But in evidence yesterday Mr McLaughlin said the group returned to the campsite after watching a televised rugby match and drove back to the same pub in the city hours later. The trial continues.