Danielle Lee Birchall trial: Jury shown ‘confronting’ video of Kon Kritikos’ home after fatal attack
Written by admin on October 8, 2024
Jurors in the trial of a woman accused of killing her father-in-law were taken to the home, hours before they saw a video of the bloody crime scene police discovered.
Danielle Lee Birchall is facing trial in Victoria’s Supreme Court charged with the murder of Kon Kritikos, 78, almost four years ago.
She has pleaded not guilty, arguing she was not the person who inflicted the “terrible” attack in the afternoon of November 11, 2020.
On Tuesday, jurors were taken to the Coburg home where Mr Kritikos was fatally injured for a viewing, before they were shown a 10-minute crime scene video after Justice Christopher Beale warned it could be “confronting”.
In the video large patches of blood could be seen pooled in the hall of the home, with droplets extending up each wall of the narrow space.
Bloody footprints could also be seen on the white tiles of a bathroom at the end of the hall.
Detective Senior Constable Abbey Justin told the court the footage was filmed on November 12 – a day after the critically injured Mr Kritikos was found by his son, George Kritikos, and Ms Birchall.
A 45-minute collated video of CCTV footage was also played to the jury providing a timeline of Ms Birchall’s movements from 9am as she ran errands, picked up a son from school and socialised with her partner and a friend.
In their opening address on Monday, prosecutors, led by Sarah Thomas, alleged Ms Birchall attacked Mr Kritikos after returning to his home alone.
It’s alleged she knew he kept large amounts of cash, including dollars and euros at the home, and was arrested later the same night with $6535.
Ms Thomas said it was further alleged Ms Birchall changed clothes and disposed of her attire sometime between leaving Mr Kritikos’ home after 5pm and returning home about 6.45pm.
The court was told Ms Birchall and George Kritikos returned to Mr Kritikos’ home about 10.40pm after socialising with a friend at a hotel and his home.
Ms Thomas said it was alleged after George asked his father what happened, he responded “they were big” and “her, her, her” in Greek.
“The prosecution alleges Kon was telling George it was the accused who attacked him,” she said.
The jury was told Mr Kritikos died in hospital 13 days later after he was placed into palliative care with doctors deeming his injuries “unsurvivable”.
Ms Birchall’s barrister, Chris Pearson, told the jury it was not disputed that his client had visited Mr Kritikos’ home three times that day nor that he was allegedly murdered.
“She is simply not the person who assaulted Kon, she’s not the person that caused the injuries,” he said.
“This was a man who was savagely beaten by somebody but it wasn’t Danielle – That’s the defence position, that’s what this case is about.”
The trial continues.
