After allegedly murdering his former schoolmate, a man wrote about there being a “great evil” in the house, a jury has been told.
David Douglas McLennon is facing trial in the Victorian Supreme Court accused of murdering Caroline ‘Carlee’ Smith at her Hamilton home, in southwest Victoria, on May 11 last year.
He has pleaded not guilty, with his barrister Rosalind Avis asking the jury to keep an open mind as the trial progresses and question if her client “intended to kill her or cause really serious injury”.
Outlining the Crown’s case on Wednesday afternoon, David Glynn SC said Ms Smith and her husband Walter had moved from their home state of Western Australia to Victoria before settling in Hamilton in June 2022.
Unfortunately, he said, Walter was soon diagnosed with cancer and lived in hospice at home care until his death in September 2024.
Mr Glynn said Mr McLennon was an old school friend of Ms Smith and agreed to move over in October 2023 to help around the property.
“She had her hands full with a very sick husband, she needed help with the property, it was agreed he would move over,” he said.
The prosecutor said Mr McLennon and Ms Smith had a “complex” relationship, saying they cared for each other but also had some serious fights.
It’s alleged Mr McLennon killed Ms Smith about 10.04pm on May 11.
About two minutes later, Mr Glynn said a camera outside the property allegedly captured Mr McLennon speaking to himself.
“Guess what’s on the f--king floor in there mate,” he allegedly said.
“And I’m pretty sure you killed her”.
Over the following three days, Mr Glynn said Mr McLennon continued to live in the house before police arrived for a welfare check shortly after 7pm on May 14 and found Ms Smith’s body in a spare bedroom.
The prosecutor said a notebook was found in the kitchen with a message allegedly reading; “When I snapped, I was possessed”.
“There is a great evil in this house. Beware. I was pushed too far. I’m just a man, please forgive me.”
“The prosecution suggests this is essentially a confession to murder,” Mr Glynn said.
Mr Glynn said Mr McLennon was found in a shed on a neighbour’s property surrounded by “a lot” of beer cans and with self-inflicted injuries.
Ms Smith’s cause of death was determined by a forensic pathologist to be neck compression with blunt force injuries to her head.
In response, Ms Avis said it was not in dispute her client had known Ms Smith and come to live on the property while Walter was ill.
“During the day they both worked in the gardens and around the house and they got on as friends,” she said.
“At night there started to be more heated air.”
She told the jury it was accepted no one else was present when Ms Smith died and he was captured on CCTV saying to himself “I’m pretty sure you’ve killed her” before spending the rest of the night drinking.
She also said it was not disputed he was found with self-inflicted injuries or left an notebook on the kitchen bench he’d written in.
“What is in issue is what David McLennon intended to do,” Ms Avis said.
“Just because Ms Smith died, it does not automatically follow that is what Mr McLennon intended — that being to kill her or cause really serious injury to her.”
She asked jurors to keep an open mind and consider three things; what the relationship was between Ms Smith and Mr McLennon, what the injuries actually show, and what her client did after Ms Smith died.
The trial, before Justice Jane Dixon, continues.