Killer’s chilling act before murdering wife

A man accused of raping his wife multiple times before he murdered her allegedly hired a private investigator to sit outside her home and got a friend to contact her multiple times, a court has been told.

Family members and friends of slain Gold Coast mum Kelly Wilkinson walked through the doors of Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday as the first day of a committal hearing into her alleged rape at the hands of Brian Earl Johnston kicked off.

Johnston, 37, is currently serving a life sentence for murdering his ex-wife in April 2021, after he doused her in fuel and set her on fire.

The bombshell rape charges were only revealed at Johnston’s Supreme Court sentencing in Brisbane earlier this year.

Johnston is facing four counts of rape – allegedly committed against Ms Wilkinson between February 10-13 that same year.

The former US marine is fighting the charges.

During Tuesday’s committal hearing, witness Melanie Joyce told the court she took Ms Wilkinson out to lunch in March 2021 after her mother passed away.

She told the court Ms Wilkinson disclosed she had been a victim of domestic violence for almost 10 years.

“She (Kelly) detailed some instances of abuse to me during that drive and over the course of lunch in Burleigh as well,” Ms Joyce said.

Ms Joyce said Ms Wilkinson detailed allegations of abuse in both Australia and America, where she lived with Mr Johnston before moving back home.

Under cross-examination, Ms Joyce said Ms Wilkinson told her she had sustained visible injuries from alleged physical and emotional abuse while in America.

The court was told sexual abuse occurred in Australia – with Ms Wilkinson disclosing Johnston had raped her several times in their family home.

“She (Kelly) had a conversation with him about (Johnston) not being aware you could rape your wife,” Ms Joyce said.

“She maybe used the term ‘several’.”

Ms Joyce explained Ms Wilkinson did not explain specifics about the allegations, including dates, other than it “being in Australia”.

During her evidence, she said Ms Wilkinson also called her asking for advice about a domestic violence order (DVO) she had in place against Johnston.

Ms Joyce gave her advice about potential breaches of the DVO and “what (it) meant, how it worked, what it said”.

“She didn’t understand what constitutes a breach… there were several instances she was uncomfortable with,” Ms Joyce said.

The court was told some of these involved Johnston attempting to contact her and having a friend contact her.

Ms Joyce said a private investigator was allegedly employed to sit outside Ms Wilkinson’s house.

Johnston’s defence barrister Kim Bryson asked Ms Joyce how Ms Wilkinson knew the private investigator was outside.

Ms Joyce answered: “I can’t recall if she told me how she knew.”

“Did she say that was a suspicion on her part, or if it was something she was told was occurring?” Ms Bryson continued.

Ms Joyce said Ms Wilkinson had seen this person herself.

Another incident occurred when Ms Wilkinson was called to come outside her house “late at night” because “her things were dumped at the end of her street”, Ms Joyce told the court.

“(Kelly) didn’t want to go outside,” she said.

The court also heard from Danielle Carroll, Ms Wilkinson’s sister, who said Ms Wilkinson never made disclosures about abuse at Johnston’s hands until February 2021.

Ms Carroll said her sister had a “panic” moment while their mother was in hospital.

“Basically, she’s like: ‘I want to let somebody know because if something happens to me, I want to make sure everyone knew the background of it,” Ms Carroll said..

She told the court Ms Wilkinson had said Johnston had held her down, threatened to “crush her skull”, slammed a door into her and refused to let her get her drivers licence.

She said Kelly had shown her photos of bruises on her legs and arms evidencing Mr Johnston’s alleged abuse.

“I tried to get her to leave the house, but she wouldn’t,” Ms Carroll said.

The court was told Johnston and Ms Wilkinson purchased a new car, purportedly for Ms Wilkinson to learn to drive.

In her evidence, Ms Carroll said her sister had told her this was “for show” and in reality, she was not allowed to use the vehicle.

“He was trying to manipulate the family into being on his side,” she said.

Ms Carroll described a phone call between herself and Johnston in March 2021 where he mentioned allegations of physical, emotional and sexual abuse his wife had made.

“He (Johnston) said he had done it,” Ms Carroll said.

“He sounded quite low… he felt bad about it and I was basically giving short answers because I was in a bit of shock myself.”

Ms Carroll said she wasn’t concerned about his mental health during the conversation, when asked by Ms Bryson.

“I think the information I was getting from my sister is that he was a monster,” Ms Carroll said.

“He’s very good at playing wounded animal.”

The committal hearing continues.