VIC: Camilleri directed murder of girls, court told

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-1999
VIC: Camilleri directed murder of girls, court told

The Supreme Court has been told a man accused of the murder of two Bega schoolgirls
directed and controlled the killings carried out by his co-accused since jailed for 35 years.

Twenty-nine-year-old LESLIE ALFRED CAMILLERI of Yass has pleaded not guilty to the murders
of NICHOLE COLLINS and her friend LAUREN BARRY.

The bodies of 16-year-old NICHOLE and 14-year-old Lauren were found in bushland at Fiddlers
Green Creek, 10km inside the Victorian border in November 1997.

The court heard CAMILLERI'S close friend LINDSAY HOANI BECKETT had pleaded guilty to the
murders but said he was acting on instructions from CAMILLERI.

Crown prosecutor GRAEME HICKS told the court that after picking up the two girls, CAMILLERI
and BECKETT drove them hundreds of kilometres over 10 hours and raped them several times.

Mr HICKS said BECKETT then knifed the girls to death but CAMILLERI was in control of the
killings.

BECKETT had told the police CAMILLERI had threatened to kill him if he refused to kill the
girls.

AAP RTV sew/jlw/rat/jn

KEYWORD: CAMILLERI (MELBOURNE)

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.