An Australian Mr. Digby

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Man was tortured, strangled: witness
BY EMMA SPILLETT
28 May, 2011 01:00 PM
AN ANGLE grinder was allegedly used to torture former Cronulla man Matthew Digby before he was kicked in the head and strangled to death with a dog leash, Wollongong Local Court was told last week.
A male witness, known only as P550, told the court accused murderer Richard James Walsh had confessed to killing Mr Digby, 35, and then burning his body in a car in January last year.

Members of Mr Digby's family wept in court as they heard P550 recount how Walsh admitted to sinking an angle grinder into Mr Digby's leg when he refused to divulge information about a robbery at co-accused Lauren Mae Batcheldor's house in early 2010.

Walsh allegedly told P550 the pair took Mr Digby to an oval earlier to question him.

He said Walsh told him that when Mr Digby tried to run away, he punched him, dragged him to a car and chained his hands with a dog leash. Walsh then allegedly drove Mr Digby to a house and parked in the garage, where he punched and slapped him until he was unconscious, the court heard.

According to P550, Mr Digby later made a threat to Walsh about what he would do when released and Walsh had responded: "Now you've said that I can't let you go."

He then went to get Mr Digby a "last drink".

P550 said when Walsh returned, he noticed Mr Digby had freed an arm from the leash. It is alleged Walsh became angry, opening the back of the car to kick Mr Digby repeatedly in the head, the witness said.

P550 said Walsh told him he wrapped a dog leash around Mr Digby's neck and pulled until his body stopped moving. He allegedly said he later moved Mr Digby's body into the front passenger seat and placed a tyre on his stomach, before putting a tarp over him.

Walsh allegedly told P550 he had driven to a dirt road in the bush the following day, where he planned to leave Mr Digby's body.

According to P550, Walsh said he noticed blood had seeped on to the car's floor, so he doused the car and the body with fuel and set it alight, then called Batcheldor, who picked him up a short time later.

In another alleged conversation with P550, Walsh admitted there was blood on the garage floor and he had used bleach to clean it.

P550 said Walsh also told him he and Batcheldor went to a pawn shop to look for her stolen jewellery. She found a chain, which she believed Mr Digby had pawned, the court heard.

P550 was the final witness in a three-day committal hearing involving Walsh and Batcheldor, who are charged with murdering and kidnapping Mr Digby last year.

After hearing the evidence, Magistrate Ian Guy decided there was a case against the pair and committed them to stand trial later in the year.

Walsh and Batcheldor are expected to appear in the Supreme Court in Sydney for arraignment on August 5.