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| English: Beer cans and bottles. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
An Australian man who allegedly drank a flatmate’s beer was beaten unconscious, locked in the boot of a car and burned alive, a court was told today.
Two men have pleaded not guilty to murdering 47-year-old Paul Stamp by locking him in the car and setting it on fire because they were furious that he had taken a beer from the fridge in the flat they shared.
The court was told that Gregory Channing, 41, and Gary Miles, 40, returned to Mr Miles’ flat in September last year to find a single beer was missing from the fridge.
Crown Prosecutor Paul Ushere told a court in Darwin that the two men woke Mr Stamp in his bedroom and beat him unconscious.
He was then dragged down the front stairs and locked in the boot of a car, the court heard.
‘They discussed driving into the bush or an industrial area and leaving him there so he could find his own way home,’ said Mr Usher.
But while they were driving with Mr Stamp still in the boot, the car ran out of fuel.
Mr Miles then allegedly poured fuel over the vehicle and set it alight.
‘Gary Miles ignited the vehicle with a cigarette lighter, causing a raging fire,’ said Mr Usher.
Mr Stamp, the court heard, had arrived in the Northern Territory from Western Australia seeking work in the mines on September 11 last year.
Eight days later, firefighters and police were called to the scene of a blazing car at three o’clock in the morning. Mr Stamp’s body was found in the boot.
