Maltese man allegedly murdered, hacked colleague in Australia

A Maltese man resident in Melbourne allegedly murdered an associate and went to considerable effort to dispose of his remains because he believed his victim had told the police about his cannabis growing operations, a jury has heard.

The Age newspaper reported that Leonard Borg, 28, is charged with murdering Peter Rule, 56, on November 15, 2009, at the Campbellfield factory Borg was renting with a friend to cultivate drugs.

At the opening of Borg's trial today in the Victorian Supreme Court, the prosecution alleged that Borg shot Mr Rule 10 times with a .22 semi-automatic rifle at the Glenbarry Road factory some time after 8.35pm.

The newspaper said he had allegedly told others he was going to get Rule because he believed he had dobbed him in to police about growing cannabis at a house he was renting from his brother-in-law. The property was later raided by police, but no drugs were found.

Prosecutor Mark Gibson said the Crown believed after fatally shooting Mr Rule, Borg contacted a friend who he asked to buy bleach, garbage bags and rags and bring them to the factory.

The friend complied and when he arrived, was instructed by Borg not to look in the area near the woman's toilet.

Mr Gibson said Mr Rule's body was believed to have been moved to the back of Borg's blue Volvo by then, adding that the friend would testify during the trial that he helped Borg clean the mess.

The pair are alleged to have then driven to another factory in Thomastown where they left one of the cars and went out and bought a 15-litre container of petrol and several bags of firewood before Borg was dropped off and the friend went home.

The following day, when the friend returned to the Thomastown factory, he saw Borg burning Mr Rule's remains in a 44 gallon drum. It was here that friend will claim that Borg detailed the murder to him, the jury was told.

Mr Gibson said in the following days the pair purchased more items to help dispose of Mr Rule's body, including a black tub, an electric chainsaw, a hatchet, citronella oil and hydrochloric acid.

They crushed any identifiable parts of Mr Rule's body and put into a tub to which the acid was added.

The Crown alleges the men then drove to the Great Ocean Road where they discarded garbage bags in scrubland near Aireys Inlet, before they disposed of the tub's contents in the ocean near Lorne.

Considering their clothes were wet and also had acid stains, Mr Gibson said they went to a menswear store and bought new clothes, including a pair of distinctive red shorts that were only sold at that store.

Upon returning to Melbourne, they went back to the Thomastown factory and cleaned Borg's Volvo and the friend's car, which included throwing away car boot mats from both vehicles, the court heard.

Borg travelled to Malta from November 21, 2009, to January 15, 2010, but during a telephone conversation with another friend while he was away, was told that Mr Rule was missing and police were investigating.

Mr Gibson said when Borg returned to Australia, he and his accomplice burned and disposed of more items relating to the alleged crime. But when he was approached by police, Borg told investigators he knew nothing about Mr Rule's disappearance. He also and gave a false account of his movements on the day Mr Rule was last seen alive.

The men also painted the floor of the Thomastown factory with blue paint to cover evidence.

As police continued to search for information about Mr Rule's whereabouts, Borg's friend confessed his involvement to police on April 5.

He took investigators to where he and Borg had disposed of the items.

Bone fragments was among the forensic evidence found, as was burnt black plastic with flecks of blue paint.

Mr Gibson said blood spatters were also later found by officers at the Campbellfield factory, which once tested, were found to be 1.5 billion times more likely to contain Mr Rule's DNA than anyone else in the Caucasian population.

After more items were seized during multiple search warrants, Borg was arrested and charged with Mr Rule's murder.

Defence barrister Carmen Randazzo, SC, reminded the jury that her client was innocent until proven otherwise and said they had to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Rule was dead and that Borg had killed him.

"There's good reason why you won't be satisfied, because he didn't do it," she said.

She accused Borg's accomplice — a key prosecution witness — of lying about what had happened, adding that there was no forensic evidence proving her client was responsible for the murder in the circumstantial case.

"(The accomplice) and others, but not Leonard Borg, are responsible for the disappearance of Peter Rule," she said.

The trial continues before Justice Lex Lasry.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/chainsaw-hatchet-acid-used-to-dispose-of-body-court-hears-20120209-1rpe9.html