One of the great enduring questions of Melbourne’s gangland war has been answered after a jury found Stephen John Asling guilty of the murder of underworld statesman Graham “The Munster” Kinniburgh.
The 56-year-old was found guilty on Saturday afternoon in the Victorian Supreme Court following a month-long trial involving more than 30 witnesses — among them convicted murderers, former drug dealers and high-ranking detectives caught up in the gangland war — who gave evidence about the murder.
The jury took two-and-a-half days to deliberate before handing down its verdict.
Kinniburgh, a veteran gangster and well-known known associate of the powerful Moran clan, was the 21st victim of the war and his murder remained unsolved for more than a decade.
The 62-year-old was shot just after midnight on December 13, 2003, as he was getting out of his car in front of his red-brick suburban Kew home where his wife and adult son were sleeping.
Police found him lying facedown in a large pool of blood, his arms outstretched, with his .45 automatic Colt pistol resting on his right wrist. He had been shot in the head, leg and torso by two different weapons and his groceries and car keys lay sprawled around him.
The prosecution alleged two hitmen — Asling and his associate, the late Terrence Blewitt — lay in wait for Kinniburgh outside his home, shouting “Oi, dog” as he was getting out of the vehicle before ambushing him, killing him and fleeing the scene.
The small green getaway car used in the murder was found by police several minutes later in a nearby avenue, doused in petrol and well alight.
The crown prosecutor, Andrew Tinney, SC, alleged the two men had been ordered to kill Kinniburgh on the instruction of late crime boss Carl Williams. One former gangster told the court Williams was driven by a “deep-seated hatred mainly for the Morans, the Moran family and quite a few of his associates”.
When the original plan to kill family patriarch Lewis Moran stalled, Kinniburgh became the target.
“[Williams] basically told Terry Blewitt and Steve Asling that, ‘If you can’t kill Lewis Moran, then to kill Kinniburgh’,” Witness A, a 56-year-old hitman who was Williams’s bodyguard and right-hand man, told the court during the trial: “They said they would take care of it.’”
Kinniburgh, who police believe was linked to a series of unsolved armed robberies and drug importations over four decades before he died, was one of the old-style crooks of the underworld, a reserved and unassuming man who was known as “Pa” by figures such as Mick Gatto.
“You were a true chameleon, you could adapt to any situation, rubbing shoulders with the best of them and being able to talk at any level about any topic,” Gatto wrote in Kinniburgh’s death notice in the Melbourne newspapers at the time. “I was so proud to be a part of your life.”
His death spurred one of the largest and longest investigations ever carried out by the Purana taskforce. Detective Sara Morse, Purana’s current head, told the that court after no breakthroughs in the case for almost a decade, investigators began reviewing old records at the end of 2012.
In 2015, a protracted discussion with a petty criminal who knew the major underworld player — who demanded half a million dollars and a reinstatement of his trade papers from the Australian Crime Commission in return for his statement — came as a significant breakthrough.
A friend of both hitmen, he said he recognised the getaway car broadcast on the news as the same vehicle he had stolen with Asling several months before the murder. He also told police the pair had confessed to him.
"It was common knowledge that Carl had offered the contract,” he told the court.
“[Blewitt told me] that him and Steve had driven to Graham’s house. Terry was waiting in the bushes. As Graham pulled in, got out of his car, Steve yelled out, ‘Oi, dog’. Graham returned fire. Terry stepped up behind him, shot him in the head, and then shot him in the body.”
Without any forensic or DNA evidence linking Asling to the scene, the prosecution relied heavily on their three key rollover witnesses to prove their case and defence counsel, Michael O’Connell SC, repeatedly told the jury these accounts could not be trusted because of the men’s “abject immorality” and tendency to use “lying and manipulation as a survival mechanism”.
In his closing statement, Mr O’Connell likened the Crown case against Asling to a bowl of rancid Irish stew.
“Imagine for a moment that you were served with a bowl of Irish stew,” Mr O’Connell told the jury. “You sat down and put your fork into the bowl and brought out a piece of meat that you could see immediately was rancid.
“You could continue to rummage through the bowl to see whether or not you could find some vegetable or meat that’s not rancid, or alternatively you could push the bowl aside and leave it alone.
“What we will urge you to do is push that bowl aside and leave it completely alone,” he said.
In the end, the jury took a bite.
- by Simone Fox Koob, March 18, 2017
-----
Melbourne's underworld war intensified with the murder of one of Australia's most influential gangsters, Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh, who was shot dead outside his two-storey Kew home early yesterday.
Kinniburgh, who for more than three decades was one of the best-connected criminals in Victoria, was killed just after midnight by a lone gunman when he parked in Belmont Avenue. He had walked about six steps from his car towards his driveway when he was confronted by the killer.
Police believe Kinniburgh may have been able to draw his own gun and could have fired one round, before he was repeatedly shot in the chest. A pistol was found by his body next to a bag of groceries he dropped when ambushed.
Forensic tests will be conducted to see if the gun was fired by Kinniburgh or left by the gunman at the scene.
Kinniburgh, 62, had been implicated in the murder of Melbourne gangster Alphonse Gangitano, shot dead in his Templestowe home in January 1998. Police say Kinniburgh was present when Jason Moran shot Gangitano. Moran and an associate, Pasquale Barbaro, were murdered on June 21 this year.
Detective Inspector Andrew Allen said a number of events in his past may have led to his murder.
Police say the number of suspected underworld related killings in Melbourne in six years could be as high as 24.
Detectives from the Purana gangland taskforce, who took control of the Kinniburgh murder case yesterday, will investigate several motives, including that he was killed as a payback for the Gangitano murder. But they will also investigate whether Carl Williams, a man on bail over amphetamine charges and linked to several of the unsolved underworld murders, was involved.
Mr Williams told The Sunday Age he was not involved. "I don't know him. I've heard of him, but I don't know him. All I've ever heard about him is good."
Mr Williams's wife, Roberta, said: "It was his lawyer's birthday and he was out with him. He got Chinese and came home drunk as a skunk. They can't blame him for this one."
Inspector Allen said Kinniburgh was gunned down in front of family members soon after parking his car. "It's clear the man has been ambushed and executed in the street," he said. An ambulance spokeswoman said paramedics called at 12.07am found Kinniburgh dead at the scene.
The gunman is believed to have escaped in a blue Ford Falcon driven by a second man.
Frightened neighbours yesterday spoke of hearing two volleys, an initial burst of three shots followed by a second of up to "seven or eight shots all fired very quickly". Police could not confirm how many times Kinniburgh had been shot.
One neighbour in his 20s who did not want to be named said he and his brother pulled up in their car as the shooting was taking place.
"We heard the sound of the shots," he said. "We thought they were just like firecrackers and kids, then we saw a car driving off and a man in the road."
The neighbour, who was still shaken yesterday, said he did not realise immediately what had happened. "My brother told me to stay in the car and then when we got out I just saw the bloke on the ground," he said. "He was lying on his back and as I ran past I saw his legs and torso. He wasn't moving, there was absolutely no movement from him. I was thinking, 'He's dead.'
"Then I was running up the driveway and I was on the mobile to the police straight away."
The ambush appears to have been meticulously planned. Within seconds, the gunman was driving north along Belmont Avenue towards Parkhill Road before doubling back to cross the main Cotham Road.
Minutes later, residents in the mansions of Doona Avenue reported the car had been set alight in a driveway down a cobbled service lane.
Police yesterday morning retraced what they believe was the next stage of the attackers' escape route, as they fled on foot along an ivy-clad alleyway connecting Doona Avenue with Barenya Court. A second escape vehicle is believed to have been waiting at Cotham Road.
Long-term residents of Belmont Avenue said they knew of Kinniburgh's reputation but said he was "a quiet man who kept himself to himself". He was occasionally seen walking a small, white, fluffy dog.
By John Silvester, Andrew Webster
Stephen Moynihan
December 14, 2003
-----
An underworld hitman has been found guilty of assassinating crime boss Graham 'The Munster' Kinniburgh.
The Melbourne gangland elder statesman was shot to death outside his home on a quiet suburban street just before midnight in December 2003, in a scene made famous by the mini-series Underbelly.
Stephen John Asling, 56, was one of two gunmen who shot the 62-year-old three times, one of the bullets striking him in the head, on the orders of Carl Williams.
The prosecution told the Victorian Supreme Court drug kingpin Williams paid him and Terrence Blewitt, who is now dead, $150,000 for the hit.
Asling will now be charged with the murder of Blewitt, who disappeared on April 12, 2004, with his body found in January buried on a vacant lot in northern Melbourne.
Police suspect Blewitt was executed after a failed armed robbery on a golf club in southern NSW, according to the Herald Sun.
A witness who spent time behind bars with Asling, whom he knew as 'Aso', testified that Asling had made a jail yard confession to killing Kinniburgh.
Asling will now be charged with the murder of Terrence Blewitt (pictured) who was the other gunman in the Kinniburgh assassination, after he disappeared in 2014
'He goes, "I did this but they have no proof because I'm the best sneako",' the witness told the trial.
He said Asling told him on the night Kinniburgh was killed he went to the movies with his girlfriend then sneaked out through the back door.
Another key witness who implicated Asling said he knew there was a contract on Kinniburgh's life but never warned him.
The key witness was 'friendly' with Kinniburgh and shared the occasional meal with him.
But even though he had known for months a contract was out on The Munster's life, he didn't warn him because he was 'minding my own business'.
The prosecution told the Victorian Supreme Court drug kingpin Williams paid the pair $150,000 for the hit
The witness said Asling told him how he and Blewitt ambushed Kinniburgh outside his home on the night of his death before shooting him dead.
A third witness said Williams asked him to monitor Kinniburgh at his Kew home, which he did with the help of binoculars.
Williams also asked the man, who befriended Williams while they were both in jail, to monitor Lewis Moran and his son Jason Moran.
The witness said Williams supplied Asling and Blewitt with a bag containing two guns, speed and cash believed to be $20,000.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran (C), leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated
Williams, who was killed in jail in 2010, harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran, leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated.
'Carl Williams said in effect, well if you can't kill Lewis Moran, kill Graham Kinniburgh. That's why Graham Kinniburgh was killed,' he said.
'The desire of Williams to have Kinniburgh surveilled occurred in the context of powerful hatred that Williams had of members of the Moran family and their associates, one of whom was Kinniburgh.
'Williams wanted to see the Morans dead… in particular he wanted Lewis Moran dead.'
Williams harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury
Kinniburgh was ambushed as he carried groceries inside his home, and died despite whipping out a handgun to defend himself.
He was shot three times by a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, suffering wounds to his head and torso and dying in the street outside his house.
Sybil Kinniburgh said she heard three loud bangs outside their home on the night her husband of 36 years was killed - December 13, 2003.
She investigated, but couldn't see or hear anything, and returned to bed to read her book.
It was only later when police knocked at the door that she learnt her husband had been shot dead.
He goes, "I did this but they have no proof because I'm the best sneako",' the witness told the trial.
He said Asling told him on the night Kinniburgh was killed he went to the movies with his girlfriend then sneaked out through the back door.
Another key witness who implicated Asling said he knew there was a contract on Kinniburgh's life but never warned him.
The key witness was 'friendly' with Kinniburgh and shared the occasional meal with him.
But even though he had known for months a contract was out on The Munster's life, he didn't warn him because he was 'minding my own business'.
The witness said Asling told him how he and Blewitt ambushed Kinniburgh outside his home on the night of his death before shooting him dead.
A third witness said Williams asked him to monitor Kinniburgh at his Kew home, which he did with the help of binoculars.
Williams also asked the man, who befriended Williams while they were both in jail, to monitor Lewis Moran and his son Jason Moran.
The witness said Williams supplied Asling and Blewitt with a bag containing two guns, speed and cash believed to be $20,000.
Williams, who was killed in jail in 2010, harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran, leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated.
'Carl Williams said in effect, well if you can't kill Lewis Moran, kill Graham Kinniburgh. That's why Graham Kinniburgh was killed,' he said.
'The desire of Williams to have Kinniburgh surveilled occurred in the context of powerful hatred that Williams had of members of the Moran family and their associates, one of whom was Kinniburgh.
'Williams wanted to see the Morans dead… in particular he wanted Lewis Moran dead.'
Kinniburgh was ambushed as he carried groceries inside his home, and died despite whipping out a handgun to defend himself.
He was shot three times by a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, suffering wounds to his head and torso and dying in the street outside his house.
Sybil Kinniburgh said she heard three loud bangs outside their home on the night her husband of 36 years was killed - December 13, 2003.
She investigated, but couldn't see or hear anything, and returned to bed to read her book.
It was only later when police knocked at the door that she learnt her husband had been shot dead.
- The Daily Mail, March 18, 2017
-----
Video - Melbourne's Underworld War
The 56-year-old was found guilty on Saturday afternoon in the Victorian Supreme Court following a month-long trial involving more than 30 witnesses — among them convicted murderers, former drug dealers and high-ranking detectives caught up in the gangland war — who gave evidence about the murder.
The jury took two-and-a-half days to deliberate before handing down its verdict.
Kinniburgh, a veteran gangster and well-known known associate of the powerful Moran clan, was the 21st victim of the war and his murder remained unsolved for more than a decade.
The 62-year-old was shot just after midnight on December 13, 2003, as he was getting out of his car in front of his red-brick suburban Kew home where his wife and adult son were sleeping.
Police found him lying facedown in a large pool of blood, his arms outstretched, with his .45 automatic Colt pistol resting on his right wrist. He had been shot in the head, leg and torso by two different weapons and his groceries and car keys lay sprawled around him.
The prosecution alleged two hitmen — Asling and his associate, the late Terrence Blewitt — lay in wait for Kinniburgh outside his home, shouting “Oi, dog” as he was getting out of the vehicle before ambushing him, killing him and fleeing the scene.
The small green getaway car used in the murder was found by police several minutes later in a nearby avenue, doused in petrol and well alight.
The crown prosecutor, Andrew Tinney, SC, alleged the two men had been ordered to kill Kinniburgh on the instruction of late crime boss Carl Williams. One former gangster told the court Williams was driven by a “deep-seated hatred mainly for the Morans, the Moran family and quite a few of his associates”.
When the original plan to kill family patriarch Lewis Moran stalled, Kinniburgh became the target.
“[Williams] basically told Terry Blewitt and Steve Asling that, ‘If you can’t kill Lewis Moran, then to kill Kinniburgh’,” Witness A, a 56-year-old hitman who was Williams’s bodyguard and right-hand man, told the court during the trial: “They said they would take care of it.’”
Kinniburgh, who police believe was linked to a series of unsolved armed robberies and drug importations over four decades before he died, was one of the old-style crooks of the underworld, a reserved and unassuming man who was known as “Pa” by figures such as Mick Gatto.
“You were a true chameleon, you could adapt to any situation, rubbing shoulders with the best of them and being able to talk at any level about any topic,” Gatto wrote in Kinniburgh’s death notice in the Melbourne newspapers at the time. “I was so proud to be a part of your life.”
His death spurred one of the largest and longest investigations ever carried out by the Purana taskforce. Detective Sara Morse, Purana’s current head, told the that court after no breakthroughs in the case for almost a decade, investigators began reviewing old records at the end of 2012.
In 2015, a protracted discussion with a petty criminal who knew the major underworld player — who demanded half a million dollars and a reinstatement of his trade papers from the Australian Crime Commission in return for his statement — came as a significant breakthrough.
A friend of both hitmen, he said he recognised the getaway car broadcast on the news as the same vehicle he had stolen with Asling several months before the murder. He also told police the pair had confessed to him.
"It was common knowledge that Carl had offered the contract,” he told the court.
“[Blewitt told me] that him and Steve had driven to Graham’s house. Terry was waiting in the bushes. As Graham pulled in, got out of his car, Steve yelled out, ‘Oi, dog’. Graham returned fire. Terry stepped up behind him, shot him in the head, and then shot him in the body.”
Without any forensic or DNA evidence linking Asling to the scene, the prosecution relied heavily on their three key rollover witnesses to prove their case and defence counsel, Michael O’Connell SC, repeatedly told the jury these accounts could not be trusted because of the men’s “abject immorality” and tendency to use “lying and manipulation as a survival mechanism”.
In his closing statement, Mr O’Connell likened the Crown case against Asling to a bowl of rancid Irish stew.
“Imagine for a moment that you were served with a bowl of Irish stew,” Mr O’Connell told the jury. “You sat down and put your fork into the bowl and brought out a piece of meat that you could see immediately was rancid.
“You could continue to rummage through the bowl to see whether or not you could find some vegetable or meat that’s not rancid, or alternatively you could push the bowl aside and leave it alone.
“What we will urge you to do is push that bowl aside and leave it completely alone,” he said.
In the end, the jury took a bite.
- by Simone Fox Koob, March 18, 2017
-----
Melbourne's underworld war intensified with the murder of one of Australia's most influential gangsters, Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh, who was shot dead outside his two-storey Kew home early yesterday.
Kinniburgh, who for more than three decades was one of the best-connected criminals in Victoria, was killed just after midnight by a lone gunman when he parked in Belmont Avenue. He had walked about six steps from his car towards his driveway when he was confronted by the killer.
Police believe Kinniburgh may have been able to draw his own gun and could have fired one round, before he was repeatedly shot in the chest. A pistol was found by his body next to a bag of groceries he dropped when ambushed.
Forensic tests will be conducted to see if the gun was fired by Kinniburgh or left by the gunman at the scene.
Kinniburgh, 62, had been implicated in the murder of Melbourne gangster Alphonse Gangitano, shot dead in his Templestowe home in January 1998. Police say Kinniburgh was present when Jason Moran shot Gangitano. Moran and an associate, Pasquale Barbaro, were murdered on June 21 this year.
Detective Inspector Andrew Allen said a number of events in his past may have led to his murder.
Police say the number of suspected underworld related killings in Melbourne in six years could be as high as 24.
Detectives from the Purana gangland taskforce, who took control of the Kinniburgh murder case yesterday, will investigate several motives, including that he was killed as a payback for the Gangitano murder. But they will also investigate whether Carl Williams, a man on bail over amphetamine charges and linked to several of the unsolved underworld murders, was involved.
Mr Williams told The Sunday Age he was not involved. "I don't know him. I've heard of him, but I don't know him. All I've ever heard about him is good."
Mr Williams's wife, Roberta, said: "It was his lawyer's birthday and he was out with him. He got Chinese and came home drunk as a skunk. They can't blame him for this one."
Inspector Allen said Kinniburgh was gunned down in front of family members soon after parking his car. "It's clear the man has been ambushed and executed in the street," he said. An ambulance spokeswoman said paramedics called at 12.07am found Kinniburgh dead at the scene.
The gunman is believed to have escaped in a blue Ford Falcon driven by a second man.
Frightened neighbours yesterday spoke of hearing two volleys, an initial burst of three shots followed by a second of up to "seven or eight shots all fired very quickly". Police could not confirm how many times Kinniburgh had been shot.
One neighbour in his 20s who did not want to be named said he and his brother pulled up in their car as the shooting was taking place.
"We heard the sound of the shots," he said. "We thought they were just like firecrackers and kids, then we saw a car driving off and a man in the road."
The neighbour, who was still shaken yesterday, said he did not realise immediately what had happened. "My brother told me to stay in the car and then when we got out I just saw the bloke on the ground," he said. "He was lying on his back and as I ran past I saw his legs and torso. He wasn't moving, there was absolutely no movement from him. I was thinking, 'He's dead.'
"Then I was running up the driveway and I was on the mobile to the police straight away."
The ambush appears to have been meticulously planned. Within seconds, the gunman was driving north along Belmont Avenue towards Parkhill Road before doubling back to cross the main Cotham Road.
Minutes later, residents in the mansions of Doona Avenue reported the car had been set alight in a driveway down a cobbled service lane.
Police yesterday morning retraced what they believe was the next stage of the attackers' escape route, as they fled on foot along an ivy-clad alleyway connecting Doona Avenue with Barenya Court. A second escape vehicle is believed to have been waiting at Cotham Road.
Long-term residents of Belmont Avenue said they knew of Kinniburgh's reputation but said he was "a quiet man who kept himself to himself". He was occasionally seen walking a small, white, fluffy dog.
By John Silvester, Andrew Webster
Stephen Moynihan
December 14, 2003
-----
An underworld hitman has been found guilty of assassinating crime boss Graham 'The Munster' Kinniburgh.
The Melbourne gangland elder statesman was shot to death outside his home on a quiet suburban street just before midnight in December 2003, in a scene made famous by the mini-series Underbelly.
Stephen John Asling, 56, was one of two gunmen who shot the 62-year-old three times, one of the bullets striking him in the head, on the orders of Carl Williams.
The prosecution told the Victorian Supreme Court drug kingpin Williams paid him and Terrence Blewitt, who is now dead, $150,000 for the hit.
Asling will now be charged with the murder of Blewitt, who disappeared on April 12, 2004, with his body found in January buried on a vacant lot in northern Melbourne.
Police suspect Blewitt was executed after a failed armed robbery on a golf club in southern NSW, according to the Herald Sun.
A witness who spent time behind bars with Asling, whom he knew as 'Aso', testified that Asling had made a jail yard confession to killing Kinniburgh.
Asling will now be charged with the murder of Terrence Blewitt (pictured) who was the other gunman in the Kinniburgh assassination, after he disappeared in 2014
'He goes, "I did this but they have no proof because I'm the best sneako",' the witness told the trial.
He said Asling told him on the night Kinniburgh was killed he went to the movies with his girlfriend then sneaked out through the back door.
Another key witness who implicated Asling said he knew there was a contract on Kinniburgh's life but never warned him.
The key witness was 'friendly' with Kinniburgh and shared the occasional meal with him.
But even though he had known for months a contract was out on The Munster's life, he didn't warn him because he was 'minding my own business'.
The prosecution told the Victorian Supreme Court drug kingpin Williams paid the pair $150,000 for the hit
The witness said Asling told him how he and Blewitt ambushed Kinniburgh outside his home on the night of his death before shooting him dead.
A third witness said Williams asked him to monitor Kinniburgh at his Kew home, which he did with the help of binoculars.
Williams also asked the man, who befriended Williams while they were both in jail, to monitor Lewis Moran and his son Jason Moran.
The witness said Williams supplied Asling and Blewitt with a bag containing two guns, speed and cash believed to be $20,000.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran (C), leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated
Williams, who was killed in jail in 2010, harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran, leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated.
'Carl Williams said in effect, well if you can't kill Lewis Moran, kill Graham Kinniburgh. That's why Graham Kinniburgh was killed,' he said.
'The desire of Williams to have Kinniburgh surveilled occurred in the context of powerful hatred that Williams had of members of the Moran family and their associates, one of whom was Kinniburgh.
'Williams wanted to see the Morans dead… in particular he wanted Lewis Moran dead.'
Williams harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury
Kinniburgh was ambushed as he carried groceries inside his home, and died despite whipping out a handgun to defend himself.
He was shot three times by a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, suffering wounds to his head and torso and dying in the street outside his house.
Sybil Kinniburgh said she heard three loud bangs outside their home on the night her husband of 36 years was killed - December 13, 2003.
She investigated, but couldn't see or hear anything, and returned to bed to read her book.
It was only later when police knocked at the door that she learnt her husband had been shot dead.
He goes, "I did this but they have no proof because I'm the best sneako",' the witness told the trial.
He said Asling told him on the night Kinniburgh was killed he went to the movies with his girlfriend then sneaked out through the back door.
Another key witness who implicated Asling said he knew there was a contract on Kinniburgh's life but never warned him.
The key witness was 'friendly' with Kinniburgh and shared the occasional meal with him.
But even though he had known for months a contract was out on The Munster's life, he didn't warn him because he was 'minding my own business'.
The witness said Asling told him how he and Blewitt ambushed Kinniburgh outside his home on the night of his death before shooting him dead.
A third witness said Williams asked him to monitor Kinniburgh at his Kew home, which he did with the help of binoculars.
Williams also asked the man, who befriended Williams while they were both in jail, to monitor Lewis Moran and his son Jason Moran.
The witness said Williams supplied Asling and Blewitt with a bag containing two guns, speed and cash believed to be $20,000.
Williams, who was killed in jail in 2010, harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran, leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated.
'Carl Williams said in effect, well if you can't kill Lewis Moran, kill Graham Kinniburgh. That's why Graham Kinniburgh was killed,' he said.
'The desire of Williams to have Kinniburgh surveilled occurred in the context of powerful hatred that Williams had of members of the Moran family and their associates, one of whom was Kinniburgh.
'Williams wanted to see the Morans dead… in particular he wanted Lewis Moran dead.'
Kinniburgh was ambushed as he carried groceries inside his home, and died despite whipping out a handgun to defend himself.
He was shot three times by a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, suffering wounds to his head and torso and dying in the street outside his house.
Sybil Kinniburgh said she heard three loud bangs outside their home on the night her husband of 36 years was killed - December 13, 2003.
She investigated, but couldn't see or hear anything, and returned to bed to read her book.
It was only later when police knocked at the door that she learnt her husband had been shot dead.
- The Daily Mail, March 18, 2017
-----
Video - Melbourne's Underworld War
One of the great enduring questions of Melbourne’s gangland war has been answered after a jury found Stephen John Asling guilty of the murder of underworld statesman Graham “The Munster” Kinniburgh.
The 56-year-old was found guilty on Saturday afternoon in the Victorian Supreme Court following a month-long trial involving more than 30 witnesses — among them convicted murderers, former drug dealers and high-ranking detectives caught up in the gangland war — who gave evidence about the murder.
The jury took two-and-a-half days to deliberate before handing down its verdict.
Kinniburgh, a veteran gangster and well-known known associate of the powerful Moran clan, was the 21st victim of the war and his murder remained unsolved for more than a decade.
The 62-year-old was shot just after midnight on December 13, 2003, as he was getting out of his car in front of his red-brick suburban Kew home where his wife and adult son were sleeping.
Police found him lying facedown in a large pool of blood, his arms outstretched, with his .45 automatic Colt pistol resting on his right wrist. He had been shot in the head, leg and torso by two different weapons and his groceries and car keys lay sprawled around him.
The prosecution alleged two hitmen — Asling and his associate, the late Terrence Blewitt — lay in wait for Kinniburgh outside his home, shouting “Oi, dog” as he was getting out of the vehicle before ambushing him, killing him and fleeing the scene.
The small green getaway car used in the murder was found by police several minutes later in a nearby avenue, doused in petrol and well alight.
The crown prosecutor, Andrew Tinney, SC, alleged the two men had been ordered to kill Kinniburgh on the instruction of late crime boss Carl Williams. One former gangster told the court Williams was driven by a “deep-seated hatred mainly for the Morans, the Moran family and quite a few of his associates”.
When the original plan to kill family patriarch Lewis Moran stalled, Kinniburgh became the target.
“[Williams] basically told Terry Blewitt and Steve Asling that, ‘If you can’t kill Lewis Moran, then to kill Kinniburgh’,” Witness A, a 56-year-old hitman who was Williams’s bodyguard and right-hand man, told the court during the trial: “They said they would take care of it.’”
Kinniburgh, who police believe was linked to a series of unsolved armed robberies and drug importations over four decades before he died, was one of the old-style crooks of the underworld, a reserved and unassuming man who was known as “Pa” by figures such as Mick Gatto.
“You were a true chameleon, you could adapt to any situation, rubbing shoulders with the best of them and being able to talk at any level about any topic,” Gatto wrote in Kinniburgh’s death notice in the Melbourne newspapers at the time. “I was so proud to be a part of your life.”
His death spurred one of the largest and longest investigations ever carried out by the Purana taskforce. Detective Sara Morse, Purana’s current head, told the that court after no breakthroughs in the case for almost a decade, investigators began reviewing old records at the end of 2012.
In 2015, a protracted discussion with a petty criminal who knew the major underworld player — who demanded half a million dollars and a reinstatement of his trade papers from the Australian Crime Commission in return for his statement — came as a significant breakthrough.
A friend of both hitmen, he said he recognised the getaway car broadcast on the news as the same vehicle he had stolen with Asling several months before the murder. He also told police the pair had confessed to him.
"It was common knowledge that Carl had offered the contract,” he told the court.
“[Blewitt told me] that him and Steve had driven to Graham’s house. Terry was waiting in the bushes. As Graham pulled in, got out of his car, Steve yelled out, ‘Oi, dog’. Graham returned fire. Terry stepped up behind him, shot him in the head, and then shot him in the body.”
Without any forensic or DNA evidence linking Asling to the scene, the prosecution relied heavily on their three key rollover witnesses to prove their case and defence counsel, Michael O’Connell SC, repeatedly told the jury these accounts could not be trusted because of the men’s “abject immorality” and tendency to use “lying and manipulation as a survival mechanism”.
In his closing statement, Mr O’Connell likened the Crown case against Asling to a bowl of rancid Irish stew.
“Imagine for a moment that you were served with a bowl of Irish stew,” Mr O’Connell told the jury. “You sat down and put your fork into the bowl and brought out a piece of meat that you could see immediately was rancid.
“You could continue to rummage through the bowl to see whether or not you could find some vegetable or meat that’s not rancid, or alternatively you could push the bowl aside and leave it alone.
“What we will urge you to do is push that bowl aside and leave it completely alone,” he said.
In the end, the jury took a bite.
- by Simone Fox Koob, March 18, 2017
-----
Melbourne's underworld war intensified with the murder of one of Australia's most influential gangsters, Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh, who was shot dead outside his two-storey Kew home early yesterday.
Kinniburgh, who for more than three decades was one of the best-connected criminals in Victoria, was killed just after midnight by a lone gunman when he parked in Belmont Avenue. He had walked about six steps from his car towards his driveway when he was confronted by the killer.
Police believe Kinniburgh may have been able to draw his own gun and could have fired one round, before he was repeatedly shot in the chest. A pistol was found by his body next to a bag of groceries he dropped when ambushed.
Forensic tests will be conducted to see if the gun was fired by Kinniburgh or left by the gunman at the scene.
Kinniburgh, 62, had been implicated in the murder of Melbourne gangster Alphonse Gangitano, shot dead in his Templestowe home in January 1998. Police say Kinniburgh was present when Jason Moran shot Gangitano. Moran and an associate, Pasquale Barbaro, were murdered on June 21 this year.
Detective Inspector Andrew Allen said a number of events in his past may have led to his murder.
Police say the number of suspected underworld related killings in Melbourne in six years could be as high as 24.
Detectives from the Purana gangland taskforce, who took control of the Kinniburgh murder case yesterday, will investigate several motives, including that he was killed as a payback for the Gangitano murder. But they will also investigate whether Carl Williams, a man on bail over amphetamine charges and linked to several of the unsolved underworld murders, was involved.
Mr Williams told The Sunday Age he was not involved. "I don't know him. I've heard of him, but I don't know him. All I've ever heard about him is good."
Mr Williams's wife, Roberta, said: "It was his lawyer's birthday and he was out with him. He got Chinese and came home drunk as a skunk. They can't blame him for this one."
Inspector Allen said Kinniburgh was gunned down in front of family members soon after parking his car. "It's clear the man has been ambushed and executed in the street," he said. An ambulance spokeswoman said paramedics called at 12.07am found Kinniburgh dead at the scene.
The gunman is believed to have escaped in a blue Ford Falcon driven by a second man.
Frightened neighbours yesterday spoke of hearing two volleys, an initial burst of three shots followed by a second of up to "seven or eight shots all fired very quickly". Police could not confirm how many times Kinniburgh had been shot.
One neighbour in his 20s who did not want to be named said he and his brother pulled up in their car as the shooting was taking place.
"We heard the sound of the shots," he said. "We thought they were just like firecrackers and kids, then we saw a car driving off and a man in the road."
The neighbour, who was still shaken yesterday, said he did not realise immediately what had happened. "My brother told me to stay in the car and then when we got out I just saw the bloke on the ground," he said. "He was lying on his back and as I ran past I saw his legs and torso. He wasn't moving, there was absolutely no movement from him. I was thinking, 'He's dead.'
"Then I was running up the driveway and I was on the mobile to the police straight away."
The ambush appears to have been meticulously planned. Within seconds, the gunman was driving north along Belmont Avenue towards Parkhill Road before doubling back to cross the main Cotham Road.
Minutes later, residents in the mansions of Doona Avenue reported the car had been set alight in a driveway down a cobbled service lane.
Police yesterday morning retraced what they believe was the next stage of the attackers' escape route, as they fled on foot along an ivy-clad alleyway connecting Doona Avenue with Barenya Court. A second escape vehicle is believed to have been waiting at Cotham Road.
Long-term residents of Belmont Avenue said they knew of Kinniburgh's reputation but said he was "a quiet man who kept himself to himself". He was occasionally seen walking a small, white, fluffy dog.
By John Silvester, Andrew Webster
Stephen Moynihan
December 14, 2003
-----
An underworld hitman has been found guilty of assassinating crime boss Graham 'The Munster' Kinniburgh.
The Melbourne gangland elder statesman was shot to death outside his home on a quiet suburban street just before midnight in December 2003, in a scene made famous by the mini-series Underbelly.
Stephen John Asling, 56, was one of two gunmen who shot the 62-year-old three times, one of the bullets striking him in the head, on the orders of Carl Williams.
The prosecution told the Victorian Supreme Court drug kingpin Williams paid him and Terrence Blewitt, who is now dead, $150,000 for the hit.
Asling will now be charged with the murder of Blewitt, who disappeared on April 12, 2004, with his body found in January buried on a vacant lot in northern Melbourne.
Police suspect Blewitt was executed after a failed armed robbery on a golf club in southern NSW, according to the Herald Sun.
A witness who spent time behind bars with Asling, whom he knew as 'Aso', testified that Asling had made a jail yard confession to killing Kinniburgh.
Asling will now be charged with the murder of Terrence Blewitt (pictured) who was the other gunman in the Kinniburgh assassination, after he disappeared in 2014
'He goes, "I did this but they have no proof because I'm the best sneako",' the witness told the trial.
He said Asling told him on the night Kinniburgh was killed he went to the movies with his girlfriend then sneaked out through the back door.
Another key witness who implicated Asling said he knew there was a contract on Kinniburgh's life but never warned him.
The key witness was 'friendly' with Kinniburgh and shared the occasional meal with him.
But even though he had known for months a contract was out on The Munster's life, he didn't warn him because he was 'minding my own business'.
The prosecution told the Victorian Supreme Court drug kingpin Williams paid the pair $150,000 for the hit
The witness said Asling told him how he and Blewitt ambushed Kinniburgh outside his home on the night of his death before shooting him dead.
A third witness said Williams asked him to monitor Kinniburgh at his Kew home, which he did with the help of binoculars.
Williams also asked the man, who befriended Williams while they were both in jail, to monitor Lewis Moran and his son Jason Moran.
The witness said Williams supplied Asling and Blewitt with a bag containing two guns, speed and cash believed to be $20,000.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran (C), leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated
Williams, who was killed in jail in 2010, harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran, leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated.
'Carl Williams said in effect, well if you can't kill Lewis Moran, kill Graham Kinniburgh. That's why Graham Kinniburgh was killed,' he said.
'The desire of Williams to have Kinniburgh surveilled occurred in the context of powerful hatred that Williams had of members of the Moran family and their associates, one of whom was Kinniburgh.
'Williams wanted to see the Morans dead… in particular he wanted Lewis Moran dead.'
Williams harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury
Kinniburgh was ambushed as he carried groceries inside his home, and died despite whipping out a handgun to defend himself.
He was shot three times by a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, suffering wounds to his head and torso and dying in the street outside his house.
Sybil Kinniburgh said she heard three loud bangs outside their home on the night her husband of 36 years was killed - December 13, 2003.
She investigated, but couldn't see or hear anything, and returned to bed to read her book.
It was only later when police knocked at the door that she learnt her husband had been shot dead.
He goes, "I did this but they have no proof because I'm the best sneako",' the witness told the trial.
He said Asling told him on the night Kinniburgh was killed he went to the movies with his girlfriend then sneaked out through the back door.
Another key witness who implicated Asling said he knew there was a contract on Kinniburgh's life but never warned him.
The key witness was 'friendly' with Kinniburgh and shared the occasional meal with him.
But even though he had known for months a contract was out on The Munster's life, he didn't warn him because he was 'minding my own business'.
The witness said Asling told him how he and Blewitt ambushed Kinniburgh outside his home on the night of his death before shooting him dead.
A third witness said Williams asked him to monitor Kinniburgh at his Kew home, which he did with the help of binoculars.
Williams also asked the man, who befriended Williams while they were both in jail, to monitor Lewis Moran and his son Jason Moran.
The witness said Williams supplied Asling and Blewitt with a bag containing two guns, speed and cash believed to be $20,000.
Williams, who was killed in jail in 2010, harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran, leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated.
'Carl Williams said in effect, well if you can't kill Lewis Moran, kill Graham Kinniburgh. That's why Graham Kinniburgh was killed,' he said.
'The desire of Williams to have Kinniburgh surveilled occurred in the context of powerful hatred that Williams had of members of the Moran family and their associates, one of whom was Kinniburgh.
'Williams wanted to see the Morans dead… in particular he wanted Lewis Moran dead.'
Kinniburgh was ambushed as he carried groceries inside his home, and died despite whipping out a handgun to defend himself.
He was shot three times by a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, suffering wounds to his head and torso and dying in the street outside his house.
Sybil Kinniburgh said she heard three loud bangs outside their home on the night her husband of 36 years was killed - December 13, 2003.
She investigated, but couldn't see or hear anything, and returned to bed to read her book.
It was only later when police knocked at the door that she learnt her husband had been shot dead.
- The Daily Mail, March 18, 2017
-----
Video - Melbourne's Underworld War
The 56-year-old was found guilty on Saturday afternoon in the Victorian Supreme Court following a month-long trial involving more than 30 witnesses — among them convicted murderers, former drug dealers and high-ranking detectives caught up in the gangland war — who gave evidence about the murder.
The jury took two-and-a-half days to deliberate before handing down its verdict.
Kinniburgh, a veteran gangster and well-known known associate of the powerful Moran clan, was the 21st victim of the war and his murder remained unsolved for more than a decade.
The 62-year-old was shot just after midnight on December 13, 2003, as he was getting out of his car in front of his red-brick suburban Kew home where his wife and adult son were sleeping.
Police found him lying facedown in a large pool of blood, his arms outstretched, with his .45 automatic Colt pistol resting on his right wrist. He had been shot in the head, leg and torso by two different weapons and his groceries and car keys lay sprawled around him.
The prosecution alleged two hitmen — Asling and his associate, the late Terrence Blewitt — lay in wait for Kinniburgh outside his home, shouting “Oi, dog” as he was getting out of the vehicle before ambushing him, killing him and fleeing the scene.
The small green getaway car used in the murder was found by police several minutes later in a nearby avenue, doused in petrol and well alight.
The crown prosecutor, Andrew Tinney, SC, alleged the two men had been ordered to kill Kinniburgh on the instruction of late crime boss Carl Williams. One former gangster told the court Williams was driven by a “deep-seated hatred mainly for the Morans, the Moran family and quite a few of his associates”.
When the original plan to kill family patriarch Lewis Moran stalled, Kinniburgh became the target.
“[Williams] basically told Terry Blewitt and Steve Asling that, ‘If you can’t kill Lewis Moran, then to kill Kinniburgh’,” Witness A, a 56-year-old hitman who was Williams’s bodyguard and right-hand man, told the court during the trial: “They said they would take care of it.’”
Kinniburgh, who police believe was linked to a series of unsolved armed robberies and drug importations over four decades before he died, was one of the old-style crooks of the underworld, a reserved and unassuming man who was known as “Pa” by figures such as Mick Gatto.
“You were a true chameleon, you could adapt to any situation, rubbing shoulders with the best of them and being able to talk at any level about any topic,” Gatto wrote in Kinniburgh’s death notice in the Melbourne newspapers at the time. “I was so proud to be a part of your life.”
His death spurred one of the largest and longest investigations ever carried out by the Purana taskforce. Detective Sara Morse, Purana’s current head, told the that court after no breakthroughs in the case for almost a decade, investigators began reviewing old records at the end of 2012.
In 2015, a protracted discussion with a petty criminal who knew the major underworld player — who demanded half a million dollars and a reinstatement of his trade papers from the Australian Crime Commission in return for his statement — came as a significant breakthrough.
A friend of both hitmen, he said he recognised the getaway car broadcast on the news as the same vehicle he had stolen with Asling several months before the murder. He also told police the pair had confessed to him.
"It was common knowledge that Carl had offered the contract,” he told the court.
“[Blewitt told me] that him and Steve had driven to Graham’s house. Terry was waiting in the bushes. As Graham pulled in, got out of his car, Steve yelled out, ‘Oi, dog’. Graham returned fire. Terry stepped up behind him, shot him in the head, and then shot him in the body.”
Without any forensic or DNA evidence linking Asling to the scene, the prosecution relied heavily on their three key rollover witnesses to prove their case and defence counsel, Michael O’Connell SC, repeatedly told the jury these accounts could not be trusted because of the men’s “abject immorality” and tendency to use “lying and manipulation as a survival mechanism”.
In his closing statement, Mr O’Connell likened the Crown case against Asling to a bowl of rancid Irish stew.
“Imagine for a moment that you were served with a bowl of Irish stew,” Mr O’Connell told the jury. “You sat down and put your fork into the bowl and brought out a piece of meat that you could see immediately was rancid.
“You could continue to rummage through the bowl to see whether or not you could find some vegetable or meat that’s not rancid, or alternatively you could push the bowl aside and leave it alone.
“What we will urge you to do is push that bowl aside and leave it completely alone,” he said.
In the end, the jury took a bite.
- by Simone Fox Koob, March 18, 2017
-----
Melbourne's underworld war intensified with the murder of one of Australia's most influential gangsters, Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh, who was shot dead outside his two-storey Kew home early yesterday.
Kinniburgh, who for more than three decades was one of the best-connected criminals in Victoria, was killed just after midnight by a lone gunman when he parked in Belmont Avenue. He had walked about six steps from his car towards his driveway when he was confronted by the killer.
Police believe Kinniburgh may have been able to draw his own gun and could have fired one round, before he was repeatedly shot in the chest. A pistol was found by his body next to a bag of groceries he dropped when ambushed.
Forensic tests will be conducted to see if the gun was fired by Kinniburgh or left by the gunman at the scene.
Kinniburgh, 62, had been implicated in the murder of Melbourne gangster Alphonse Gangitano, shot dead in his Templestowe home in January 1998. Police say Kinniburgh was present when Jason Moran shot Gangitano. Moran and an associate, Pasquale Barbaro, were murdered on June 21 this year.
Detective Inspector Andrew Allen said a number of events in his past may have led to his murder.
Police say the number of suspected underworld related killings in Melbourne in six years could be as high as 24.
Detectives from the Purana gangland taskforce, who took control of the Kinniburgh murder case yesterday, will investigate several motives, including that he was killed as a payback for the Gangitano murder. But they will also investigate whether Carl Williams, a man on bail over amphetamine charges and linked to several of the unsolved underworld murders, was involved.
Mr Williams told The Sunday Age he was not involved. "I don't know him. I've heard of him, but I don't know him. All I've ever heard about him is good."
Mr Williams's wife, Roberta, said: "It was his lawyer's birthday and he was out with him. He got Chinese and came home drunk as a skunk. They can't blame him for this one."
Inspector Allen said Kinniburgh was gunned down in front of family members soon after parking his car. "It's clear the man has been ambushed and executed in the street," he said. An ambulance spokeswoman said paramedics called at 12.07am found Kinniburgh dead at the scene.
The gunman is believed to have escaped in a blue Ford Falcon driven by a second man.
Frightened neighbours yesterday spoke of hearing two volleys, an initial burst of three shots followed by a second of up to "seven or eight shots all fired very quickly". Police could not confirm how many times Kinniburgh had been shot.
One neighbour in his 20s who did not want to be named said he and his brother pulled up in their car as the shooting was taking place.
"We heard the sound of the shots," he said. "We thought they were just like firecrackers and kids, then we saw a car driving off and a man in the road."
The neighbour, who was still shaken yesterday, said he did not realise immediately what had happened. "My brother told me to stay in the car and then when we got out I just saw the bloke on the ground," he said. "He was lying on his back and as I ran past I saw his legs and torso. He wasn't moving, there was absolutely no movement from him. I was thinking, 'He's dead.'
"Then I was running up the driveway and I was on the mobile to the police straight away."
The ambush appears to have been meticulously planned. Within seconds, the gunman was driving north along Belmont Avenue towards Parkhill Road before doubling back to cross the main Cotham Road.
Minutes later, residents in the mansions of Doona Avenue reported the car had been set alight in a driveway down a cobbled service lane.
Police yesterday morning retraced what they believe was the next stage of the attackers' escape route, as they fled on foot along an ivy-clad alleyway connecting Doona Avenue with Barenya Court. A second escape vehicle is believed to have been waiting at Cotham Road.
Long-term residents of Belmont Avenue said they knew of Kinniburgh's reputation but said he was "a quiet man who kept himself to himself". He was occasionally seen walking a small, white, fluffy dog.
By John Silvester, Andrew Webster
Stephen Moynihan
December 14, 2003
-----
An underworld hitman has been found guilty of assassinating crime boss Graham 'The Munster' Kinniburgh.
The Melbourne gangland elder statesman was shot to death outside his home on a quiet suburban street just before midnight in December 2003, in a scene made famous by the mini-series Underbelly.
Stephen John Asling, 56, was one of two gunmen who shot the 62-year-old three times, one of the bullets striking him in the head, on the orders of Carl Williams.
The prosecution told the Victorian Supreme Court drug kingpin Williams paid him and Terrence Blewitt, who is now dead, $150,000 for the hit.
Asling will now be charged with the murder of Blewitt, who disappeared on April 12, 2004, with his body found in January buried on a vacant lot in northern Melbourne.
Police suspect Blewitt was executed after a failed armed robbery on a golf club in southern NSW, according to the Herald Sun.
A witness who spent time behind bars with Asling, whom he knew as 'Aso', testified that Asling had made a jail yard confession to killing Kinniburgh.
Asling will now be charged with the murder of Terrence Blewitt (pictured) who was the other gunman in the Kinniburgh assassination, after he disappeared in 2014
'He goes, "I did this but they have no proof because I'm the best sneako",' the witness told the trial.
He said Asling told him on the night Kinniburgh was killed he went to the movies with his girlfriend then sneaked out through the back door.
Another key witness who implicated Asling said he knew there was a contract on Kinniburgh's life but never warned him.
The key witness was 'friendly' with Kinniburgh and shared the occasional meal with him.
But even though he had known for months a contract was out on The Munster's life, he didn't warn him because he was 'minding my own business'.
The prosecution told the Victorian Supreme Court drug kingpin Williams paid the pair $150,000 for the hit
The witness said Asling told him how he and Blewitt ambushed Kinniburgh outside his home on the night of his death before shooting him dead.
A third witness said Williams asked him to monitor Kinniburgh at his Kew home, which he did with the help of binoculars.
Williams also asked the man, who befriended Williams while they were both in jail, to monitor Lewis Moran and his son Jason Moran.
The witness said Williams supplied Asling and Blewitt with a bag containing two guns, speed and cash believed to be $20,000.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran (C), leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated
Williams, who was killed in jail in 2010, harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran, leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated.
'Carl Williams said in effect, well if you can't kill Lewis Moran, kill Graham Kinniburgh. That's why Graham Kinniburgh was killed,' he said.
'The desire of Williams to have Kinniburgh surveilled occurred in the context of powerful hatred that Williams had of members of the Moran family and their associates, one of whom was Kinniburgh.
'Williams wanted to see the Morans dead… in particular he wanted Lewis Moran dead.'
Williams harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury
Kinniburgh was ambushed as he carried groceries inside his home, and died despite whipping out a handgun to defend himself.
He was shot three times by a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, suffering wounds to his head and torso and dying in the street outside his house.
Sybil Kinniburgh said she heard three loud bangs outside their home on the night her husband of 36 years was killed - December 13, 2003.
She investigated, but couldn't see or hear anything, and returned to bed to read her book.
It was only later when police knocked at the door that she learnt her husband had been shot dead.
He goes, "I did this but they have no proof because I'm the best sneako",' the witness told the trial.
He said Asling told him on the night Kinniburgh was killed he went to the movies with his girlfriend then sneaked out through the back door.
Another key witness who implicated Asling said he knew there was a contract on Kinniburgh's life but never warned him.
The key witness was 'friendly' with Kinniburgh and shared the occasional meal with him.
But even though he had known for months a contract was out on The Munster's life, he didn't warn him because he was 'minding my own business'.
The witness said Asling told him how he and Blewitt ambushed Kinniburgh outside his home on the night of his death before shooting him dead.
A third witness said Williams asked him to monitor Kinniburgh at his Kew home, which he did with the help of binoculars.
Williams also asked the man, who befriended Williams while they were both in jail, to monitor Lewis Moran and his son Jason Moran.
The witness said Williams supplied Asling and Blewitt with a bag containing two guns, speed and cash believed to be $20,000.
Williams, who was killed in jail in 2010, harboured a 'deep-seated hatred' for the Morans which also extended to their associates, the witness told the jury.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said the plot to kill Kinniburgh started off as an agreement to kill Lewis Moran, leader of the Carlton Crew whom Williams hated.
'Carl Williams said in effect, well if you can't kill Lewis Moran, kill Graham Kinniburgh. That's why Graham Kinniburgh was killed,' he said.
'The desire of Williams to have Kinniburgh surveilled occurred in the context of powerful hatred that Williams had of members of the Moran family and their associates, one of whom was Kinniburgh.
'Williams wanted to see the Morans dead… in particular he wanted Lewis Moran dead.'
Kinniburgh was ambushed as he carried groceries inside his home, and died despite whipping out a handgun to defend himself.
He was shot three times by a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, suffering wounds to his head and torso and dying in the street outside his house.
Sybil Kinniburgh said she heard three loud bangs outside their home on the night her husband of 36 years was killed - December 13, 2003.
She investigated, but couldn't see or hear anything, and returned to bed to read her book.
It was only later when police knocked at the door that she learnt her husband had been shot dead.
- The Daily Mail, March 18, 2017
-----
Video - Melbourne's Underworld War
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
