Wife killer breaks silence on rape charges

A convicted murderer who set his wife on fire in a horrific domestic violence attack has broken his silence over accusations he raped his wife in the months before he killed her.

Brian Earl Johnston, 37, is serving a life sentence for the murder of his estranged ex-wife Kelly Wilkinson, 27, after he doused the Gold Coast mum in fuel and set her on fire in the backyard of her Arundel home in April 2021.

The former US marine is also accused of repeatedly raping Ms Wilkinson on different dates in February of the same year – accusations he denies.

Family members and friends of Ms Wilkinson were called to give evidence at Johnston’s committal hearing at Southport Magistrates Court this week.

In Queensland, a committal hearing allows a magistrate to determine whether the evidence is strong enough to put a defendant on trial in a higher court.

Johnston is charged with four counts of rape.

Magistrate Nerida Wilson committed Johnston to stand trial in the District Court following the conclusion of the hearing on Wednesday.

Asked if he wished to say anything in response, Johnston replied: “Not guilty, Your Honour.”

Ms Wilkinson’s sister Emma was among the final witnesses to give evidence at the two-day committal hearing.

Emma said Kelly had alleged Johnston had been violent towards her while she was living both in Australia and America.

The court was told Johnston had allegedly sexually assaulted his wife “against her will”.

“She (Kelly) had said ‘no, I don’t want to do this anymore, it hurts, stop’ and he continued,” Emma said.

Emma said Johnston had also allegedly touched his wife “inappropriately” in front of other people despite her telling him not to.

She claimed she witnessed one such instance occur at Christmas in 2020 in the family’s kitchen.

Emma said Johnston “laughed it off” and said it was “his house” and he could “do what he wants”.

Reg Wilkinson, Kelly’s father, also gave evidence how he learnt his daughter and Johnston were “separating” and she was moving from America to Australia.

He said he was not aware of any plan for Johnston to follow his ex-wife after he had finished his work commitments in the US.

Mr Wilkinson told the court he was told his daughter had “put rape charges” against Johnston.

On Tuesday, Melanie Joyce gave evidence she first learnt of Kelly’s allegations of domestic violence when they had lunch in March 2021.

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

Ms Joyce said Kelly also asked for advice regarding potential breaches of a domestic violence order (DVO) and “what (it) meant.”

She said there were several instances that Kelly was “uncomfortable with” – including Johnston attempting to contact her and having a friend contact her, and allegedly hiring a private investigator to sit outside her Arundel home.

A date for Johnston’s trial has not been set.