Traralgon man William Scriven has been committed to stand trial for the alleged murder of 32 year-old Wayne Glenn Bayley on 22 December last year.
Magistrate Peter Mellas found on Thursday there was sufficient evidence to commit 34 year-old Scriven to trial, following a four-day hearing in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court with appearances from 22 witnesses.
Mr Bayley’s friend Belinda Collins appeared via videolink on Thursday and told the court her memory of the events leading up to his death had been affected because there had been deaths in her family since that time.
She said she had driven Mr Bayley and his sister Kylie Stone to Traralgon’s Thexton Street on the night of Mr Bayley’s death to visit a friend of Ms Stone’s.
Ms Collins told the court she went into the friend’s house to go to the toilet and when she came out she was approached by one of the witnesses to Wayne’s death.
“She came running down the footpath and said ‘Wayne got stabbed’ and I collapsed,” Ms Collins said.
During last week’s proceedings, the court heard Mr Bayley was among a group of people, including neighbours of the accused, who made their way to the front of Scriven’s Thexton Street home and a fight broke out between the pair, ending in Mr Bayley’s death.
The court heard that hours earlier on 21 December, Scriven had been involved in a physical dispute with his neighbours, resulting in his arrest by police.
Michael Anthony Hill, who was in the fight with Scriven, told the court that before the accused was taken away by police he threatened Mr Hill and his family, saying “don’t sleep tonight dogs, I’m going to come back and kill you”.
Mr Hill denied suggestions from defence lawyer John Kelly that he and others had gone to Scriven’s upon his return from police custody because they were “determined to fix him up”, rather Mr Hill said they were there to “make peace”.
Mr Kelly requested some of the witnesses make their mobile phone records and Facebook accounts available to Homicide Squad Detective Senior Constable Anthony Harwood, who could use police e-crime resources to retrieve any deleted text messages.
Det Snr Const Harwood defended the time it took to collect all of the witness statements, some of which were not taken until January.
He said the time of year affected the availability of witnesses and there were limited staff.
On Thursday Scriven was given the opportunity to enter a plea and he pleaded not guilty.
Scriven is due to appear in the Melbourne Supreme Court for a directions hearing on 25 October, when a date for the trial will be set.
