Killer neighbour’s shock TV interview

A handyman is facing decades in jail after he bashed a neighbour to death during a “burglary gone wrong”, a court has been told.

Stuart Paul Anderson, 43, returned before the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday for a presentence hearing after a jury found him guilty late last year of the murder of Vicki Ramadan, 77.

He did not appear in person, instead beaming into the court on a video call for unspecified “ill health”.

Ms Ramadan lived alone in Melbourne’s northwest and had contracted Anderson for a series of odd jobs in early 2019, with prosecutors arguing he had used this time to scope out her home.

Police became involved after Anderson called triple-0 on April 6 claiming he had entered Ms Ramadan’s home to “retrieve tools” and found her dead in the hallway.

But at trial, the jury accepted he had broken in sometime between March 23 and 25, believing she was not home, and struck her 13 times with an object in a “burglary gone wrong”.

Just 10 days after the gruesome discovery, Anderson gave a streetside interview to A Current Affair, claiming he’d found her body.

‘She seemed like a very, very, very lovely lady,” he said.

“I hope the cops catch the son of a b–ch because she didn’t deserve this whatsoever.”

In court, barrister Tim Marsh conceded it was a “savage” assault on a vulnerable elderly lady Anderson had befriended and the crime called for “decades” in prison.

But he told Justice Amanda Fox the attack was “spontaneous”, arguing he had not broken into her home planning to kill her.

“The spontaneity of what happened, the fact it was a burglary gone wrong, might do nothing to reduce the loss and tragedy to the family, but it is important to understand the offender,” he said.

The court was told Anderson continued to maintain he did not murder Ms Ramadan, recently telling a psychologist: “It weighs heavily on me that people would think I’d hurt an elderly lady like that.”

Mr Marsh told the court his client reported having a difficult upbringing and past convictions across three states.

But Crown prosecutor Neill Hutton cautioned Justice Fox to not place to much weight on what Anderson self-reported, pointing out he was a known liar who repeatedly changed his story when challenged.

Mr Marsh told the court his client had the opportunity to destroy evidence in the days before police involvement but hadn’t and had attempted to “stage the discovery” to ensure she was found.

Justice Fox said she was not prepared to find this pointed to remorse, instead saying Anderson was trying “incredibly unsuccessfully” to lay a false trail.

“There’s no nexus between his background and this incredibly violent murder of an elderly woman in her own home,” she said.

“When confronted he had the opportunity to leave.”

The court was told Anderson was “isolated” in prison, mostly having contact with his lawyers while family and friends shunned him.

Justice Fox adjourned sentencing to a date to be fixed but said she would try to hand down a sentence next week.