Vincent O’Dempsey, accused of Vincent Allen’s murder, spoke of Snowtown killers
Rex Martinich
An elderly man accused of a 1964 murder gave body disposal tips after complaining about the Snowtown killers’ failure to conceal evidence, a judge heard.
Vincent O’Dempsey, 87, needed a hearing aid when he appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday for a hearing into the murder of Vincent Raymond Allen.
Allen, a 22-year-old labourer, was last seen in a car at around 5pm at Warwick, south-west of Brisbane, on 18 April 1964.
His body was never found.
Warren McDonald testified that he heard from unidentified young men that O’Dempsey had killed someone at a party in Warwick in the 1990s.
He later told O’Dempsey about the conversation.
“[O’Dempsey] I wasn’t saying it was bullshit,” McDonald told the court.
Instead, she said, he replied: “You should have heard what he said about this couple. [you].”
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Patrick Wilson, McDonald said O’Dempsey never directly said he killed anyone.
Before he disappeared, Allen gave police information about an attack and break-in at two jewelery stores in southern Queensland.
McDonald told the court another man talked about O’Dempsey “robbing jewelery stores”.
“He said, ‘Nobody can give evidence against O’Dempsey,'” McDonald said.
McDonald said O’Dempsey talked to him about the infamous Snowtown murders, which took place in South Australia in the 1990s, in which bodies were placed in barrels and left in an abandoned bank vault.
“Vince said ‘the bastards used the wrong acid,'” McDonald said.
“He said you should use a steel bathtub so you don’t leave any evidence.”
McDonald said he was “horrified” but said O’Dempsey never said he had gotten rid of a body.
Earnest Bradford testified that while he was preparing for a football game with O’Dempsey in 1964, an unknown man spoke to him.
“The other guy said to me, ‘that crazy bastard over there threw someone over the dam wall last night,'” Bradford said.
He said he assumed O’Dempsey was trying to build the dam wall in southern Queensland.
“[O’Dempsey] He didn’t say a word, just a goofy grin on his face, Bradford said.
Detective Sergeant Brett Cooper, who investigated the case, testified that he had a theory about what happened to Allen.
“He’s probably buried somewhere in the Warwick area,” Cooper said. “I think it’s very unlikely to be on the dam wall.”
Police were unable to use new techniques to scan the inside of the dam wall because of technical problems, Cooper said.
O’Dempsey was arrested in August 2019 and charged with Allen’s murder.
Wilson conceded to Deputy Chief Justice Anthony Gett on Wednesday that O’Dempsey had a prima facie case to answer.
Gett ordered O’Dempsey remanded in custody to stand trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court at a later date.
Asked by Gett if he wanted to enter a plea or say anything in response, O’Dempsey said: “No, Your Honor.”
AAP
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