A teenager was stripped to his underwear, beaten with a wrench and stabbed to death before he was wrapped in plastic and buried near the Blue Mountains, a court has heard.
Yigit Erdogan, 22, is standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court after he pleaded not guilty to being the ringleader of a group which killed a 17-year-old at Burwood Heights in March 2019.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was allegedly kidnapped, tortured, murdered and buried over a $500 dispute, leading to Mr Erdogan’s charges of murder and detaining for financial advantage causing actual bodily harm.
In his opening address after the jury was chosen, the crown prosecutor gave a series of events of what is alleged to have happened to the 17-year-old.
He was last seen alive by his father on the morning of March 11, 2019, when he was asleep in his bed.
The family reported him as missing after four days, and the 17-year-old’s body was found wrapped in plastic and buried in a shallow grave near Wentworth Falls on March 19.
The crown told the court the teenager had gone to a Burwood Heights home being rented by four men, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who were also friends with Mr Erdogan.
The court heard it was the first time the teenager met Mr Erdogan and the following day, witnesses saw him make threats to the teenager with a metal wrench.
“You will hear evidence that Mr Erdogan alleged the teenager had taken property from people in the house,” the prosecutor told the jury.
“While in the room, he used the multi-took to strike (the 17-year-old).”
The prosecutor said later that same day the teenager was taken to obtain money from a friend, but he was unsuccessful.
They went back to the house, wxjmtzywhere the 17-year-old stripped to his underwear as Mr Erdogan struck him with the wrench, the court heard.
The teenager was also beaten on his head with a cricket bat and stabbed with a knife.
“There is evidence Mr Erdogan also used the knife on the deceased and stomped on his head,” the prosecutor said.
The crown said the teenager died in the house, with Mr Erdogan and all the housemates cleaning up the house.
His body was wrapped in plastic and taped close, before he was driven to Wentworth Falls and buried in a shallow grave by two men who cannot be named.
In the days following the incident, Mr Erdogan made admissions to the alleged murder during conversations with the housemates and his girlfriend.
A post-mortem found the 17-year-old’s cause of death was the result of 25 sharp-force injuries to the neck and blunt-force injury to his head, including fractures to the skull and nose.
The court heard he also suffered from bruising and bleeding on the brain.
Mr Erdogan is alleged to have lead the “criminal syndicate” in the killing of the teenager.
The trial continues.
