Katie Lee Burgess was called as a witness in a committal hearing for Tristan James Lee, 30, at the Wagga Local Court on Wednesday.

Lee has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Daniel Murdoch, 37, on May 16 last year.

Ms Burgess told the court she and Lee were asleep in their Tolland home when they were woken up by “someone bashing on the door after 2am”.

She said two men came into the house – one close friend, and one they had never met before – but she and Lee quickly asked them to leave.

She said that was when they noticed her phone and some money missing, causing Lee to confront Murdoch outside.

“From what I know, a knife was pulled out – that’s what I’ve seen – I didn’t see where he pulled it out from, but [Murdoch’s] the one that pulled it out on Tristan,” she said. 

“Tristan came inside – he had the knife in his hand, I took the knife off him – I was actually upset, because I thought, because there was blood, it was Tristan’s blood.” 

Ms Burgess said she then went looking for Murdoch in a nearby laneway. 

“I found him by following all the blood, and he was just sitting halfway up the driveway,” she said.

“I was yelling out saying ‘are you alright?’ and he wasn’t responsive, he just kind of moaned … I touched him to try to get him to respond – I can’t explain it, he was just really, really cold.” 

Three police officers were also called as witnesses in the hearing, including Senior Constable Daniel Galvin, who said one of his staff received an anonymous call about the incident.

“I don’t want to leave my name, my son stabbed that kid last night,” Senior Constable recounted the phone call, noting Lee showed up with his father later that morning. 

When he visited Lee in his holding cell later in the day, Lee allegedly told him: “Look, man, I’ll tell you what happened off the record – the bloke came around to buy drugs and stole Katie’s phone.

“I grabbed my hunting knife and chased him. I thought I only nicked him.”

Lee’s defence barrister, Michael King, questioned why Senior Constable Galvin did not tell Lee that they were not allowed to have an off-the-record conversation. 

“As a police officer for 30 years, you know that no such conversation is off the record,” Mr King said.

“When a person says to you “look man, off the record”… didn’t that ring an alarm bell for you?” 

Another police officer who was called as a witness recalled overhearing the same conversation, telling the court Lee said: “I ran after the bloke and just wanted to nick him, but I didn’t mean for that to happen.” 

Mr King also questioned why Senior Constable Galvin made no written record of that conversation until he recorded his official statement some six days after the incident. 

However, Senior Constable Galvin said he did record the conversation in his duty book, which he was unable to find until Wednesday. 

Lee’s committal hearing will continue on Thursday in Wagga’s Local Court. 

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