Murdered boy 'had been after marijuana'

[boulder]

A TEENAGER who left a house with a man to buy marijuana was later found stabbed to death and stuffed into a stormwater drain, a court heard yesterday.

 

The Supreme Court in Brisbane heard the bloodied body of Dylan Charles Anderton, 14, was found with multiple wounds to his head and chest in the drain near a shopping centre at Kingston on Brisbane's southern outskirts.

 

Sean Stewart Clayton, 32, pleaded not guilty to Anderton's murder, which allegedly took place on November 25, 2001.

Prosecutor Simone Bain told the jury there was not much doubt Clayton told police he killed Anderton but that the issue could be about his intent at the time.

 

Ms Bain said Clayton also told police he acted in self-defence and it would be up to the jury to decide on that issue.

 

Ms Bain said Clayton, who was living at two different addresses in the Kingston area, was moving about in the lead-up to the killing.

 

She said Anderton usually lived with his grandmother but was staying with his aunt and cousins, the Williams family, in a house in Mayes Ave.

 

Ms Bain detailed how Clayton consumed alcohol and amphetamines during the day and evening at various places before arriving at the Williams's house.

 

She told the court Clayton had earlier used a baseball bat to smash furniture and a television set at his aunt's house.

 

Ms Bain said Anderton had been sniffing paint ? an activity known as chroming ? at the Williams's house and was seen to be playing with a silver flick knife.

 

Ms Bain said witnesses would say Anderton, who had $15, asked Clayton about getting some marijuana and they left to meet another man.

 

The third man left Anderton and Clayton near some shops and went to get marijuana but forgot to return.

 

Ms Bain said Anderton's body was found the next day after a trail of blood seen in a car park led to a stormwater drain.

 

She said DNA of the blood matched Anderton and Clayton and also of blood found on Clayton's shirt and shoes.

 

Clayton told police in an interview he and Anderton were alone together at the back of the shopping centre when the boy produced a knife.

 

Ms Bain said Clayton said he "felt threatened" by the boy so he grabbed the knife from him and stabbed him.

 

She said that in the interview Clayton had appeared unsure whether he had dragged the boy's body to the drain, but that he had said the boy's breathing had been shallow after the stabbing.

 

Ms Bain detailed Anderton's wounds, which included 15 stab wounds to the head and neck. One of the stabs had severed his windpipe.

 

About 50 witnesses are listed to appear in the trial before Justice Phil McMurdo.

 

 

 

The Courier-Mail