According to the ABC, committal hearing witness Peter Hall – giving evidence at the trial of 68-year-old Gary Reginald Dubois and 76-year-old Vincent O’Dempsey for the murders for Barbara McCulkin, 34, and her young daughters – told the Brisbane Magistrates Court that he, Dubois and other associates were ordered by O’Dempsey to burn down Torino’s “for an insurance job”.
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Barbara McCulkin (right) and her daughters Vicky (left) and Leanne (centre) disappeared from their home on January 16, 1974.
A COURT hearing scheduled for this week could reveal some details about a cold case involving a mother and her two daughters who disappeared 40 years ago.
The men’s arrests came after an extensive investigation by police and Crime and Corruption Commission.
Warren McDonald yesterday started giving evidence and told the court that he and Vincent O’Dempsey, 77, were cultivating marijuana near Warwick when Mr O’Dempsey admitted to killing the McCulkins.
“We made a decision between ourselves never to discuss it again”, he said.
He then returned and told Dubois to kill one of them, but he couldn’t do it, Mr Hall said. “Vince took the mother away and strangled her”, Mr Hall told the court. The Brisbane Times adds that Hall claimed the reason for the job was because “apparently the nightclub wasn’t doing too well”.
He also said the job had been organised through Mr O’Dempsey and that they splashed petrol around the hotel and checked no one was inside before lighting the fire.
Both men are facing murder and deprivation of liberty charges in relation to the infamous disappearance of Barbara McCulkin and her two daughters Vicki and Leanne.
He also said Mr Dubois said he had been there that night that they vanished. “I didn’t talk to anybody about it”, he said.
About a month after this fire 15 people were killed in a fire at the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in Brisbane and Mr Hall told the court he was concerned at the time that he was concerned he would be accused causing this blaze.
“He wasn’t all that keen on what had gone down”, said Mr Hall, who has admitted to lying by not revealing the information in prior evidence.
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It is expected the committal hearing will continue until Friday and possibly next week.
