Confessions, lies, an affair and the final day in the life of Melbourne nurse Ina-Doris Warrick are the focus of a trial for the man accused of her murder.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The widowed 25-year-old was supposed to be working a night shift on March 21, 1986.
She spent the morning with her married lover, anaesthetist Gregor Stewart doing chores at home, before meeting him later for a coffee and shopping.
Her friend Colin Graham came by her Ringwood home and took her for dinner at a pizza restaurant.
Ms Warrick never made it to work. A neighbour found her dead, stabbed twice in the back, on her bed four days later.
Graham, the last person known to see her alive, has pleaded not guilty to her murder.
In a Victorian Supreme Court trial, prosecutor Robyn Harper told jurors they could rely on the evidence of three men who allege Graham made multiple remarks or confessions of sorts.
Former colleague Craig Maddaford said Graham told him he had been seeing a nurse from Ringwood and she died in his arms.
Joseph Royle told the jury Graham said he had done a murder and not been caught, while another man known as Witness Q said Graham told him he had killed a woman named Ina-Doris because she didn't want to have sex with him.
But Graham's lawyer Malcolm Thomas tried to discredit all three men, noting Witness Q had described himself in the past as a pathological liar.
"If you've met someone more morally bankrupt and dishonest you'd be pretty unlucky. He's like some sort of comic book super villain," he said.
Mr Thomas painted all three men as liars motivated by the million dollar reward offered by Victoria Police to solve Ms Warrick's murder.
"It can be a big temptation for the unscrupulous," he said.
He also says there's another man with a powerful motive for murder and an alibi he created himself.
Ms Warrick was having an affair, before her husband's death and after, with married anaesthetist Gregor Stewart.
They had seen each other on Friday morning and that evening, before her dinner with Graham.
He lied to police repeatedly about discovering Ms Warrick's body two days later.
Dr Stewart said he stayed only two or three minutes before leaving. He returned again for less than a minute and then went home.
On Monday and Tuesday Dr Stewart went to work as normal and didn't mention finding her body when police knocked on his door Tuesday night to tell him a neighbour had found Ms Warrick dead.
Mr Thomas said Dr Stewart lied about central matters to the case, knowing he was a suspect in Ms Warrick's murder.
"The only reasonable possibility or explanation for those lies is he fears the truth will help reveal his involvement in the death," he said.
"His lies spring form a consciousness of his own guilt."
He said Graham on the other hand was up front and honest, contacting police himself as soon as found out Ms Warrick had died, to tell them about their dinner together on the Friday night.
"Why would he do that if he was guilty? It's exactly what an innocent man would do," Mr Thomas said.
Jurors are expected to begin their deliberations, after directions from Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth, on Thursday.
Australian Associated Press
