The man accused of killing nurse Ina-Doris Warrick at her home more than 30 years ago allegedly told a colleague she “died in his arms”, a court has been told.
But Colin Graham denied he had anything to do with the death of the 25-year-old nurse, who was found stabbed to death at her Ringwood North home in March 1986.
The 66-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murder and is standing trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
He had taken her out for dinner on March 1 and dropped her home, but prosecutors allege he followed her inside and killed her.
A former colleague and an acquaintance on Thursday told jurors about what they claim Mr Graham said about the crime.
Craig Maddaford said Mr Graham told him about a nurse who “died in his arms” when they both worked security at a nightclub in 1999.
Mr Graham went to his colleague’s house and was drinking from a bottle of Jim Beam when he started to talk about a nurse he was seeing in Ringwood, Mr Maddaford told the court.
“They had been out for dinner or something, a date or something … they had gone back to her place and something happened and she died in his arms,” he said.
“He remembered all the blood.”
But he said he didn’t elaborate on what happened and started talking about another woman, Mr Maddaford told the court.
“He broke down in tears and started rambling on about another girlfriend,” he said.
However, defence barrister Malcolm Thomas quizzed the former security guard about whether the conversation ever happened, timelines and his motivation for coming forward.
Mr Maddaford said he gave a statement to police in 2017 and denied he was influenced after a reward was offered on a show called Million Dollar Cold Case.
He man denied making up the conversation and told the court he was not motivated by any reward.
“I’m not here for the reward … give it to charity, I don’t care,” he said.
The court was told that Mr Maddaford called police and asked them about a reward after he made his statement.
Another witness, Joseph Royle, gave evidence that Mr Graham told him about a murder during a conversation.
At some point during the conversation Mr Graham allegedly said he “had done a murder and they haven’t gotten him for that yet”, the court was told.
But Mr Royle said he didn’t know who the alleged victim was, why Mr Graham allegedly did it or any other details.
The revelation brought Mr Royle to tears, he said.
He only came forward when police knocked on his door and told him someone reported to Crime Stoppers that he knew something about the crime.
He also rejected claims he had a financial incentive to come forward.
The trial in front of Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth continues.
