Danielle Birchall: Woman’s murder conviction over death of father-in-law Kon Kritikos overturned
A woman found guilty of murdering her elderly father-in-law has had her conviction overturned by Victoria’s highest court.
Danielle Birchall, 50, was sentenced to 27 years in prison in April this year after a jury found her guilty of murdering 87-year-old Kon Kritikos at his Coburg home in November 2020.
At the trial, jurors heard Ms Birchall and her then partner discovered Mr Kritikos’ son George Kritikos had left him with serious head injuries in the foyer of his home late on November 11.
He died in hospital 13 days later.
Prosecutors alleged Ms Birchall attacked the elderly man with a weapon similar to a garden pick when he visited the house between 3.30pm and 5pm hours earlier.
It was alleged that Ms Birchall was possibly trying to borrow or steal money from Mr Kritikos.
Ms Birchall has long maintained that she did not kill Mr Kritikos, instead putting forward an alternative hypothesis at the hearing. His lawyers argued that Mr Kritikos was killed by an unidentified person during a “bust” organized by his son George Kritikos and the couple’s alleged heroin dealer Nathan Stone, with Ms Birchall taking the blame.
At the hearing, both George and Mr Stone denied involvement, while Mr Stone also denied selling heroin. Neither was charged with any crime.
Ms Birchall’s case was called to the Court of Appeal for decision on Thursday morning after she appealed her conviction earlier this year.
Judge Christopher Boyce said it was his opinion that the court should uphold his objection and order a new trial.
“The applicant’s conviction for murder… has been annulled, and as a result, the sentence imposed on the applicant based on the said indictment has also been annulled,” he said.
Judge Boyce remanded Ms Birchall in custody to return to the Supreme Court next year.
Judges Boyce, Rowena Orr and Peter Kidd said they would issue their reasons at a later date.
