23 July 2012

Elderly man killed on Mugga Way

| johnboy
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ACT Policing is investigating a suspected homicide at a Red Hill residence late this afternoon (Sunday, July 22).

About 5.15pm today, police received a report of an assault at an address in Mugga Way, Red Hill.

On entering the premises, police located an elderly male deceased in the dining room. A weapon was located nearby.

A middle-aged male resident of the address was later conveyed to the City Police Station where he was assisting police with their enquiries.

Police would urge anyone who has information about the incident to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or provide details via the website at www.act.crimestoppers.com.au

[Courtesy ACT Policing]


UPDATE 23/07/12 14:22: This brief statement in from ACT Policing:

The alleged offender is due to appear in court any moment now


UPDATE 23/07/12 16:20: This in from the ABC:

https://twitter.com/abcnewsACT/status/227286575615193088

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Felix the Cat said :

Give the cops a break. 5pm is peak hour for Canberra and even if they had their lights and sirens going it would still probably take 15mins

You do realise that the murder occurred on a Sunday afternoon so the notion of a peak hour is spurious.It is fairly obvious that even though there are few police on duty on a Sunday afternoon one would still expect a more speedy response to an extremely serious situation.

Felix the Cat4:51 pm 25 Jul 12

Give the cops a break. 5pm is peak hour for Canberra and even if they had their lights and sirens going it would still probably take 15mins

pharmer said :

bundah said :

Another issue i found disturbing is that the triple-0 phone call was apparently made at 5:06 pm and according to the report in the CT police arrived at approx 5:25 pm that would have been an eternity if one was still alive waiting for help!

Google maps says it takes 7 minutes from Woden Station to the house. The call was made at 5:06pm, which means it would take a few minutes to determine course of action, then a few minutes for the Police to prepare to leave, unless they were already out on the street attending other matters. The Police probably made pretty good time.

If someone was “alive waiting for help”, then an ambulance would have been much more useful – the Police would not be able to provide too much assistance.

I would guess the Police had no idea that the situation was so serious and they probably thought it would be another drunken domestic case.

Yes i had considered those scenarios but regardless i believe 15 to 20 mins is an unacceptable length of time particularly given that he had told the police that he had been attacked and the assailant was still in his house.I believe we need more police on patrol end of story.

Deckard said :

dungfungus said :

Maybe it will now be called “Deadbody Oval”

If you’re going to try and be tasteless you could at least make it funny.

I agree it was a tasteless, humourless comment and I withdraw it.

chewy14 said :

54-11 said :

chewy14 said :

54-11 said :

LSWCHP said :

So a bloke aged 69 is considered middle-aged these days?

And why not, may I ask?

Do you consider a 15 year old to be middle aged as well?

Ahhhh, the delusions of youth.

Well the average life expectancy for a male is 80 odd years, so i just thought that if you think a 69 year old was middle aged that you might think a 15 year old was as well.

I’m glad that’s all cleared up. 🙂

bundah said :

djk said :

cranky said :

If I heard correctly, Costa was Freebody’s landlord. Courtesy of WIN News.

WIN news should do some basic fact checking – assuming above addresses are correct, Costa owns 85 and Freebody owns 84.

I would never lead anyone down the garden path…..well maybe only those that deserved it, but in this instance the info is accurate Costa owns 85 and Freebody lived in 84.

Thanks, that is what I was confirming, Costa owns 85 and Freebody owns 84.

bundah said :

Another issue i found disturbing is that the triple-0 phone call was apparently made at 5:06 pm and according to the report in the CT police arrived at approx 5:25 pm that would have been an eternity if one was still alive waiting for help!

Google maps says it takes 7 minutes from Woden Station to the house. The call was made at 5:06pm, which means it would take a few minutes to determine course of action, then a few minutes for the Police to prepare to leave, unless they were already out on the street attending other matters. The Police probably made pretty good time.

If someone was “alive waiting for help”, then an ambulance would have been much more useful – the Police would not be able to provide too much assistance.

I would guess the Police had no idea that the situation was so serious and they probably thought it would be another drunken domestic case.

dungfungus said :

Maybe it will now be called “Deadbody Oval”

If you’re going to try and be tasteless you could at least make it funny.

Another issue i found disturbing is that the triple-0 phone call was apparently made at 5:06 pm and according to the report in the CT police arrived at approx 5:25 pm that would have been an eternity if one was still alive waiting for help!

djk said :

cranky said :

If I heard correctly, Costa was Freebody’s landlord. Courtesy of WIN News.

WIN news should do some basic fact checking – assuming above addresses are correct, Costa owns 85 and Freebody owns 84.

I would never lead anyone down the garden path…..well maybe only those that deserved it, but in this instance the info is accurate Costa owns 85 and Freebody lived in 84.

shirty_bear said :

maloomike said :

I was unfortunate enough to have several business dealings with Mr Costa. I never thought the guy was capable of murder. however he was a complete train wreck when it came down to alchohol consumption. I never quite understood how he came into money given the fact he was not that business savy.

Am willing to speculate this is not his first journey to the wrong side of the law.

It appears Terry Freebody played in the 1951 PM’s XI game against the WIndies.
Isn’t there a Freebody Oval in Qbn?

Bizarre story.

Maybe it will now be called “Deadbody Oval”

54-11 said :

chewy14 said :

54-11 said :

LSWCHP said :

So a bloke aged 69 is considered middle-aged these days?

And why not, may I ask?

Do you consider a 15 year old to be middle aged as well?

Ahhhh, the delusions of youth.

Well the average life expectancy for a male is 80 odd years, so i just thought that if you think a 69 year old was middle aged that you might think a 15 year old was as well.

maloomike said :

I was unfortunate enough to have several business dealings with Mr Costa. I never thought the guy was capable of murder. however he was a complete train wreck when it came down to alchohol consumption. I never quite understood how he came into money given the fact he was not that business savy.

Am willing to speculate this is not his first journey to the wrong side of the law.

It appears Terry Freebody played in the 1951 PM’s XI game against the WIndies.
Isn’t there a Freebody Oval in Qbn?

Bizarre story.

I was unfortunate enough to have several business dealings with Mr Costa. I never thought the guy was capable of murder. however he was a complete train wreck when it came down to alchohol consumption. I never quite understood how he came into money given the fact he was not that business savy.

chewy14 said :

54-11 said :

LSWCHP said :

So a bloke aged 69 is considered middle-aged these days?

And why not, may I ask?

Do you consider a 15 year old to be middle aged as well?

Ahhhh, the delusions of youth.

cranky said :

If I heard correctly, Costa was Freebody’s landlord. Courtesy of WIN News.

WIN news should do some basic fact checking – assuming above addresses are correct, Costa owns 85 and Freebody owns 84.

“Middle aged is the age between the age you are now and the oldest person you know.” HNT

Holden Caulfield10:21 am 24 Jul 12

Antagonist said :

54-11 said :

LSWCHP said :

So a bloke aged 69 is considered middle-aged these days?

And why not, may I ask?

A ‘middle-aged’ person of 69 years suggests a life expectancy of 138 years. Which is BS.

So 40-odd is middle aged then?

Ouch.

54-11 said :

LSWCHP said :

So a bloke aged 69 is considered middle-aged these days?

And why not, may I ask?

A ‘middle-aged’ person of 69 years suggests a life expectancy of 138 years. Which is BS.

54-11 said :

LSWCHP said :

So a bloke aged 69 is considered middle-aged these days?

And why not, may I ask?

Do you consider a 15 year old to be middle aged as well?

Sandman said :

Seems kind of odd a near 90 year old renting a house on Mugga Way. Odd way to spend your superannuation.

Can’t take it with you…

Go to Google street view for 84 Mugga way, there’s an old guy checking the mail. Wonder if that’s Mr Freebody? Seems kind of odd a near 90 year old renting a house on Mugga Way. Odd way to spend your superannuation.

LSWCHP said :

So a bloke aged 69 is considered middle-aged these days?

And why not, may I ask?

LSWCHP said :

So a bloke aged 69 is considered middle-aged these days?

Well 60 is the new 40.

So a bloke aged 69 is considered middle-aged these days?

If I heard correctly, Costa was Freebody’s landlord. Courtesy of WIN News.

Appears Luigi Costa is a Justice of The Peace
http://www.actjpa.org.au/about/appreciation_certs_jul11.pdf
(or is that was a Justice of The Peace)

I’ve just discovered that they resided directly opposite each other on Mugga Way, 85 and 84 so one could assume that there may have been some ill feeling between the two.

c_c said :

bundah said :

I wonder whether he’ll claim self defence or provocation?

I’m no expert on Criminal Law, but I can’t really see either working in this case.

Even if he did succeed knocking it down to manslaughter based on excessive force in self defence, at his age the sentence will still see him enjoy years behind bars.

But really, when the supposed ‘attacker’ is 89, I think most courts will have a hard time accepting either.
It would be a bit like the Hare shooting the Tortoise then claiming self defence… Hare was fast enough to escape anyway.

The big thing I think the defence will rely on will be that the accused was intoxicated at the time of the alleged murder, or that there was some mental condition at work at the time.

I was being a tad facetious not knowing at the time that he’d made the triple-0 call but just to be clear the law of excessive self-defence or defensive homicide does not exist in the ACT so it’s possible he could claim self defence although i just heard it was a frenzied attack ie. stabbing i suspect. More info required methinks.

bundah said :

I wonder whether he’ll claim self defence or provocation?

I’m no expert on Criminal Law, but I can’t really see either working in this case.

Even if he did succeed knocking it down to manslaughter based on excessive force in self defence, at his age the sentence will still see him enjoy years behind bars.

But really, when the supposed ‘attacker’ is 89, I think most courts will have a hard time accepting either.
It would be a bit like the Hare shooting the Tortoise then claiming self defence… Hare was fast enough to escape anyway.

The big thing I think the defence will rely on will be that the accused was intoxicated at the time of the alleged murder, or that there was some mental condition at work at the time.

I wonder whether he’ll claim self defence or provocation?

Holden Caulfield4:46 pm 23 Jul 12

From the ABC link:

“The court heard police went to the house after Costa made a triple-0 call saying he had been attacked and the attacker was still in his house.

But when police arrived they found Mr Freebody dead in the dining room.”

Interesting to see how this one plays out.

Luigi Costa has been charged.

We’re hearing someone’s been charged.

Right so he wasn’t killed on the road itself as the title states.

Maybe it was over the misue of water ? Or other things ?

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