COREY Power was bashed almost beyond recognition with a tomahawk after he ripped off two men who came to him with stolen goods he then sold without giving them a cent.
The allegation is contained in prosecution facts tendered to Wagga Local Court after 20-year-old Owen Junior Fuller pleaded guilty to murdering 33-year-old Mr Power at Young on August 29, 2013.
While admitting to murder, Fuller is disputing facts in the brief of evidence, his barrister Eric Wilson told magistrate Erin Kennedy on Wednesday.
According to police, Mr Power was a drug addict who stole to feed his habit.
It is alleged that about three weeks before his death, Mr Power accepted a generator stolen by Fuller and Nathan Blundell and then sold it in Canberra without payment to the thieves.
The betrayal created animosity and led to a Facebook ‘war’ and threats of violence towards Mr Power, the court was told.
Blundell, who is also charged with Mr Power’s murder as well as being an accessory before the fact of murder, allegedly told a woman on August 19: “Corey sold that generator Owen and I stole, he won’t pay us for it. We’re the ones that did the job and we’re not getting anything for it.”
Mr Power and Blundell allegedly exchanged threats and insults over the next few days until August 22 when Fuller allegedly texted Blundell: “I’m thinking if he comes we take this shit to a new level that this town hasn’t seen before and end the shit tonight I’ll do it but I need you there with me bro”.
But Mr Power was in Canberra and did not return to Young until August 24.
Police allege Fuller hacked into a woman’s Facebook account about 4am on August 29 to lure Mr Power out into the dark streets where he was bashed to the point where dental records were needed to identify him.
With police closing in, Fuller fled to Queensland on November 3 and was arrested there the next day after robbing a store with another man.
Interviewed about Mr Power’s death by NSW detectives the following day, Fuller allegedly said: “I done it … I murdered Corey Power … I hit him in the head repeatedly with the blunt end of a tomahawk.”
Fuller allegedly told police that when Mr Power came across Fuller in Wombat Street he walked over to him.
“I hit him, I punched him. Then he fell down and then he got back up,” Fuller is alleged to have told police.
“Then I punched him again and it knocked him out or something, cause he didn’t get back up.
“And then I had the tomahawk down my back and I pulled it out and I hit him with the blunt end of it.
“I didn’t want to do it and I was trying to stop as I was doing it, but then as I’d try and stop it, it made me want to go harder and hit him again.
“I just wanted to break his legs, do something to mess him up and teach him a lesson.
“I’m not even angry with him. That’s why I don’t even know why it happened.
“He didn’t deserve to go the way he did.”
Fuller was charged with Mr Power’s murder in February this year after being extradited from Queensland.
He will be sentenced in the Supreme Court on a date to be fixed.
The case will be mentioned during a telephone call over of cases on February 12.
He was almost expressionless during Wednesday’s court proceedings where he appeared via video link.
Fuller is also set to plead guilty to several other unrelated offences, which are likely to be taken into account when Fuller is sentenced for Mr Power’s murder.
They will be mentioned in Wagga Local Court on January 27.
Blundell has made representations to the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) about his charges.
Ms Kennedy heard that representations from Blundell and Fuller’s brother, Thomas McGill, were still being considered by the DPP.
McGill, Fuller’s mother Annette Allen and a former girlfriend Tamsin Paul are all charged with being accessories after the fact of murder.
Their cases have been adjourned to January 27, possibly for committal for trial or sentence depending on the pleas.
