Disturbing details emerge about last moments of woman and her brother-in-law who were forced into a toolbox and dumped in a river – before their rotting bodies floated to the surface
- Two bodies were found at Scrubby Creek, south of Brisbane, in February 2016
- Cory Breton and Iuliana Triscaru drowned in a metal toolbox
- Accused murderer Tuhirangi-Thomas Tahiata has pleaded not guilty
A man accused of murdering two drug dealers, who were forced into a toolbox and dumped in a creek, says the decomposing bodies began to float days later.
Cory Breton and Iuliana Triscaru were found in a large metal box at Scrubby Creek, south of Brisbane, on February 11, 2016.
Tuhirangi-Thomas Tahiata, 28, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the pair after they were lured to a townhouse in Kingston 18 days earlier and assaulted by a group of men.
A man accused of murdering two drug dealers, who were forced into a toolbox and dumped in a creek, says the decomposing bodies began to float days later
But in a police interview played at his Brisbane Supreme Court trial on Thursday, Tahiata admitted he was at the creek when the toolbox was pushed in the water.
However, he claims a man named Trent Thrupp pushed it into the water.
He also told detectives he returned to the scene after spotting the toolbox floating in the creek on the Logan Motorway.
‘Trent swam out …. stood on top of it, and then me and (Tepuna Mariri) just threw him the rocks … to hold it down,’ he said.
Tahiata noted the green pond turned brown after the toolbox was dumped.
‘Most probably the decomposition … all the bacteria and stomach acids, everything,’ he said.
‘It smelt. I could smell it in my car.
‘When I got home, I just f***in’ grabbed two cans of deodorant (and) just sprayed it.’
Earlier, Tahiata said his girlfriend remarked he was acting ‘weird’ when he got home after the toolbox with Mr Breton and Ms Triscaru inside were initially pushed into the creek.
‘She’s like ‘baby what’s wrong, baby what’s wrong’, and I was like, ‘oh nothing, babe’. I really wanted to tell her,’ he said.
‘This is the first thing I’ve ever hidden from her.
‘I couldn’t tell her. She’s the only person in the world I wanted to tell.’
The trial continues.
Cory Breton (pictured left) and Iuliana Triscaru (right) drowned in a large metal box which was found at Scrubby Creek, south of Brisbane, on February 11, 2016