A MARRIED drug dealer was so besotted with his new girlfriend that he cut a lock of hair from the head of his ex-girlfriend – whom he had just stabbed to death over a drug debt – as a birthday present for her, a court has heard. Rocherlea man Marco Daniel Rusterholz, 51, then torched the punctured bodies of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend in order to destroy evidence of their murders, the Crown told the Supreme Court in Launceston. The double murder trial, which opened yesterday, is expected to run for six to eight weeks and the Crown plans to call up to 70 witnesses. Mr Rusterholz has maintained his not guilty pleas to the murders of Angela Maree Hallam, 31, and Joshua Eric Newman, 21, both originally from Hobart. The Crown has accused Mr Rusterholz of stabbing and cutting the new couple to death with a sharp instrument, likely a hunting or military-style knife, in unit 25/40 Pioneer Parade, Ravenswood, on August 15, 2012, between 9.40pm and 11pm. However, the defence has denied Mr Rusterholz was involved, has referred to the existence of people from ‘‘motorcycle clubs’’ and has argued that there were others who wanted to cause Ms Hallam harm. In his opening address, Crown prosecutor John Ransom told jurors that the accused murdered Ms Hallam because he believed that she owed him a significant amount of drug money, and he also thought that her murder would please his new girlfriend, a Derwent Park woman. Mr Ransom said that Mr Newman was murdered because he likely walked in on Mr Rusterholz attacking Ms Hallam and went to her aid. He said there was no suggestion that Mr Newman was involved with drugs. Mr Ransom said the couple died from multiple stab wounds and their throats had been slashed. The prosecutor said that the accused cut a lock of Ms Hallam’s hair to give to his girlfriend for her birthday and used petrol from a red plastic fuel can to set the bodies on fire. Mr Ransom said that at 10.34pm, Mr Rusterholz sent a text message to Ms Hallam, saying that he had fallen asleep and would see her when he returned from Hobart. He said that this message was a ‘‘ruse’’, sent after Ms Hallam’s murder, in order to deflect attention away from the accused. Mr Ransom said that on the day after in the Hobart area, Mr Rusterholz arranged for people to burn his car and he also set fire to a boot and the lock of hair, after he had shown it to his girlfriend stating that she might believe whose hair it was after she ‘‘read it in the paper the next day’’. Defence counsel Evan Hughes, in his opening address, said that his client’s DNA was not found in the unit and nor was it on the fuel can seized from his Daphne Court, Rocherlea, home. He rejected the Crown’s assertion that the text message Mr Rusterholz sent to Ms Hallam at 10.34pm was a ruse, because if it was, he questioned why Mr Rusterholz would have carelessly left the fuel can lying around. Mr Hughes further argued that several key Crown witnesses were significantly flawed and outright untruthful, including a man ‘‘soaked in the concept of murder’’. The trial, before Justice Robert Pearce, continues.
A MARRIED drug dealer was so besotted with his new girlfriend that he cut a lock of hair from the head of his ex-girlfriend – whom he had just stabbed to death over a drug debt – as a birthday present for her, a court has heard.
Rocherlea man Marco Daniel Rusterholz, 51, then torched the punctured bodies of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend in order to destroy evidence of their murders, the Crown told the Supreme Court in Launceston.
The double murder trial, which opened yesterday, is expected to run for six to eight weeks and the Crown plans to call up to 70 witnesses.
Mr Rusterholz has maintained his not guilty pleas to the murders of Angela Maree Hallam, 31, and Joshua Eric Newman, 21, both originally from Hobart.
The Crown has accused Mr Rusterholz of stabbing and cutting the new couple to death with a sharp instrument, likely a hunting or military-style knife, in unit 25/40 Pioneer Parade, Ravenswood, on August 15, 2012, between 9.40pm and 11pm.
However, the defence has denied Mr Rusterholz was involved, has referred to the existence of people from ‘‘motorcycle clubs’’ and has argued that there were others who wanted to cause Ms Hallam harm.
In his opening address, Crown prosecutor John Ransom told jurors that the accused murdered Ms Hallam because he believed that she owed him a significant amount of drug money, and he also thought that her murder would please his new girlfriend, a Derwent Park woman.
Mr Ransom said that Mr Newman was murdered because he likely walked in on Mr Rusterholz attacking Ms Hallam and went to her aid.
He said there was no suggestion that Mr Newman was involved with drugs.
Mr Ransom said the couple died from multiple stab wounds and their throats had been slashed.
The prosecutor said that the accused cut a lock of Ms Hallam’s hair to give to his girlfriend for her birthday and used petrol from a red plastic fuel can to set the bodies on fire.
Mr Ransom said that at 10.34pm, Mr Rusterholz sent a text message to Ms Hallam, saying that he had fallen asleep and would see her when he returned from Hobart.
He said that this message was a ‘‘ruse’’, sent after Ms Hallam’s murder, in order to deflect attention away from the accused.
Mr Ransom said that on the day after in the Hobart area, Mr Rusterholz arranged for people to burn his car and he also set fire to a boot and the lock of hair, after he had shown it to his girlfriend stating that she might believe whose hair it was after she ‘‘read it in the paper the next day’’.
Defence counsel Evan Hughes, in his opening address, said that his client’s DNA was not found in the unit and nor was it on the fuel can seized from his Daphne Court, Rocherlea, home.
He rejected the Crown’s assertion that the text message Mr Rusterholz sent to Ms Hallam at 10.34pm was a ruse, because if it was, he questioned why Mr Rusterholz would have carelessly left the fuel can lying around.
Mr Hughes further argued that several key Crown witnesses were significantly flawed and outright untruthful, including a man ‘‘soaked in the concept of murder’’.
The trial, before Justice Robert Pearce, continues.
