Australia, 'Bikie assassin' dismembered with chainsaw

OFF THE WIRE
BY: Aja Styles
Source: watoday.com.au
A Perth man has admitted to killing a 41-year-old itinerant drifter with an axe and dismembering his body with a chainsaw because he feared the victim was targeting him as an assassin for a NSW bikie gang.

Brett David McDonald, 38, is standing trial in front of Perth Supreme Court Justice Stephen Hall accused of wilfully murdering Steven David Petersen towards the end of 2004.

Mr Petersen's family reported him missing around this time, sparking a protracted police investigation into his disappearance.

Advertisement: Story continues below In 2009, Mr Petersen's body parts were found buried in a number of shallow holes inside the fenceline of the Cockburn Cement works in Munster. The quarry is directly opposite the house where Mr McDonald and his pregnant partner, Nan-Marie Lundberg, and her daughter lived at the time.

After the find, Mr McDonald admitted to police that he attacked Mr Petersen while he was visiting Ms Lundberg at their property, using the blunt side of an axe to strike a fatal blow to the victim's head.

Mr McDonald then dragged his body over to wooden pallets where he used a chainsaw to dismember the corpse.

Although police recovered most of the skeletal remains, the skull was never found.

The court heard how Mr McDonald suffered from acute paranoia and believed there was a contract taken out on his life. He believed that while living in South Australia, he accidentally gave away information that got associates of an unnamed bikie gang in trouble.

He feared that as payback he would be administered a lethal injection of drugs known as a "hot shot", and that his family and unborn daughter were also under threat.

Defence lawyer Tom Percy said that according to his client, Mr Petersen told him about a man who had molested a girl in Sydney some years back, and was wanted by an outlaw motorcycle gang.

Mr McDonald believed Mr Petersen was talking about himself, Mr Percy said.

Mr Percy said that Mr McDonald suffered a "major mental illness" and that he did not have the capacity to know that he ought not kill Mr Petersen.

Prosecutor Bruno Finnaca argued that Mr McDonald had already formed an intention to kill Mr Petersen when he befriended his partner.

At one point, Ms Lundburg had shared amphetamines with Mr Petersen and let him stay at the property. Mr McDonald had objected to the "loser" staying at his house, insisting he would have to leave.

Mr McDonald tried to suppress the court hearing because he said he feared reprisals from the bikie gang.

The trial is set down for 10 days.