Murder victim Terrence Freebody bled to death from multiple knife wounds on the dining room floor of his neighbour's Red Hill home, a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Freebody's widow left the courtroom as the ACT Supreme Court heard her husband suffered numerous stab wounds, cuts, and blunt force trauma injuries to his head, chest, and groin.
Police found Mr Freebody dead in Luigi Costa's Mugga Way home shortly after 5.30pm on July 22, 2012.
Costa was found in a nearby toilet, covered in faeces and with blood on his hands.
A blood-stained knife sat in a nearby sink.
Costa, 71, has pleaded not guilty to allegations he murdered his 89-year-old neighbour and is on trial in the Supreme Court.
The jury has been given the unusual option of returning verdicts of either guilty, not guilty, or not guilty by way of mental impairment.
The court has heard that the accused had been drinking with Mr Freebody and his wife until she left about 5pm.
Costa is alleged to have pushed Mr Freebody off a chair, before stomping on his face and neck.
But the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy said there had been no evidence of an attempt to dismember the body.
Dr Malcolm Dodd entered the witness stand on day three of the trial to give evidence on his post-mortem examination of Mr Freebody.
Dr Dodd told jurors that Mr Freebody had suffered three types of injuries, made up of blunt force trauma, cuts from a knife, and stab wounds.
Mr Freebody had suffered fractures to his head and larynx, stab wounds to his face and chest, and cuts to his face, chest, and groin, the court heard.
Dr Dodd said blood loss as a result of the injuries – including having his carotid artery and jugular vein cut – had proven fatal.
The court heard it had been impossible to determine the sequence in which the injuries had been inflicted, but a number of wounds – including to the heart and genitals – had come after death.
He declined to label the attack as "frenzied", but said the wounds had been inflicted within minutes of each other.
The court also heard from forensic psychiatrist Dr Stephen Allnutt, who visited Costa twice at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
Dr Allnutt said Costa had told him he remembered inviting the Freebody's to his home for a drink, putting on music, and then feeling under attack.
Costa told the doctor he called police because he thought there was a scuffle.
But Costa said he could not remember how much he drank, what the police had asked him, or much else until he was in the AMC.
Under cross-examination, the psychiatrist said dementia – a condition that affects the brain – could be caused by alcohol abuse.
The court heard medical notes revealed Costa had previously admitted to drinking two bottles of red wine every day.
Dr Allnutt's evidence continues on Friday.
