Accused killer points finger at dad: court

The father of a man accused of killing his estranged wife in a “well-planned execution” had a stronger motivation for her death, a court has been told.

Emil ‘Bill’ Petrov has pleaded not guilty to murdering Cindy Crossthwaite, 41, at her home in Melbourne’s outer northwest on June 20, 2006.

Ms Crossthwaite was found bashed, strangled and shot in the head after failing to pick up her two eldest children from school.

Prosecutors allege Mr Petrov was motivated by a “deep seated and enduring hatred” of his wife amid a messy separation and the belief she engineered false sexual misconduct claims against his father.

But delivering his closing remarks to the jury on Thursday, defence barrister Ashley Halphen suggested Ljubisa Petrov, then 68, orchestrated the murder without his son’s knowledge.

“Ljubisa had a strong or even stronger motive for Ms Crossthwaite to not be around any more,” he said.

“He says she’s always hated him, he says she wanted to harm him; he calls her a w–e”.

The jury was told Ljubisa faced a criminal investigation into sexual misconduct allegations in the year before her death, which included two interviews.

Police concluded the investigation and informed him they would not be laying charges weeks after Ms Crossthwaite was found dead. He has since died.

Mr Halphen told the jury Ljubisa blamed her for the allegations, suggesting they might think that would lead to palpable hatred while the possibility of charges was hanging over his head.

“You might think this is entirely reasonable and realistic,” he said.

“The possibility that Ljubisa has entered into an agreement with an unknown person and did what he needed to do, we submit, cannot be excluded on the prosecution case.”

On Wednesday, Crown Prosecutor Mark Gibson KC said the suggestion Ljubisa was on a frolic of his own and is solely responsible for Cindy’s death was fanciful.

“From the evidence, we know that Bill Petrov stood to gain a lot by killing Cindy Crossthwaite,” he argued.

“He stood to achieve vengeance for what he believed she had done to him and he stood to gain the opportunity to avoid assets being stripped from him.”

Mr Halphen further took aim at a key prosecution witness, Brian O’Shea, suggesting he lied to the jury out of self-interest.

Mr O’Shea, a former friend and drinking buddy of Mr Petrov, gave evidence the accused man was allegedly “like a broken record” in complaining about Ms Crossthwaite.

Just six to eight weeks before her death, Mr O’Shea alleged Mr Petrov had shown him a wig, gloves and dark clothing in the boot of his car.

“I’m going to kill Cindy, will you help me? I’m going to kill the c–t,” he allegedly said.

Mr O’Shea told the court about a year before Ms Crossthwaite’s death, he allegedly sourced a firearm for Mr Petrov after his Footscray home was broken into.

Mr Halphen told the jury Mr O’Shea had originally been charged with murder alongside Mr Petrov in 2019 for his role in allegedly sourcing the firearm.

The jury were told Mr O’Shea faced a trial which did not conclude last year, with prosecutors offering to drop the charge if he agreed to give evidence in April.

“After almost 17 years, after years of radio silence … he gave a version of various events that fitted into the prosecution case like a glove,” he said.

“He is prepared, you might think, to do whatever it takes to protect himself and in so doing, we would submit, his evidence cannot be trusted.”

The jury was told no forensic evidence linked Mr Petrov to Ms Crossthwaite’s home and he denied he knew where she was living.

Prosecutors allege Ms Crossthwaite was slain about 9.10am shortly after arriving home from dropping their children at school.

Mr Petrov, the court was told, had taken the week off work and was allegedly spotted 750m from her home in a shopping centre carpark about 9.30am by Kim Cunningham – a friend of Ms Crossthwaite.

Mr Halphen suggested Ms Cunningham’s evidence was unreliable, having first told police about the alleged encounter in 2017.

“It makes zero sense, why would he be there very shortly after he committed a brutal crime?” he questioned.

“She got it wrong, she got the wrong guy, she has seen someone other than Mr Petrov, we submit.”

The jury was told two neighbours living close to Ms Crossthwaite had seen a man acting suspiciously and “casing” houses in the area on June 19 and 20.

Mr Halphen asked the jury if the prosecution could exclude the possibility Ms Crossthwaite was killed in a “botched burglary” by a random offender.

Prosecutors have argued that if the jury cannot find beyond reasonable doubt Mr Petrov murdered his wife, they can find he formed an agreement with an unknown person to kill her.

The trial continues.