The stripper, Robyn Lindholm, also allegedly warned her former partner, Hawthorn gym owner Wayne Amey, she would burn down his gym and make sure his son was inside. Witness Cindy Devine told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday how Mr Amey had carried a knife for protection from Ms Lindholm.

Ms Devine, who regularly visited Mr Amey from Wangaratta and stayed with him, said she heard Ms Lindholm regularly threaten him during phone calls when they were in his car and he put the stripper on speaker phone.

Ms Lindholm would allegedly threaten to kill Mr Amey if he did not deposit money into her account. Ms Devine said she had a strong memory of three particular threats made by Ms Lindholm where she threatened to slit Mr Amey’s mother’s throat at a nursing home; where she told him she would burn down his gym with his son inside; and ‘‘just about killing Wayne’’.

‘‘Not how she would do it,’’ Ms Devine said. ‘‘Just that she was going to get him.’’

Ms Lindholm, 41, Mr Ryan, 37, and Torsten Trabert, 45, have been charged with murdering Mr Amey, 54. Chief Crown prosecutor Gavin Silbert, QC, has told the court during a committal hearing for the three accused that Mr Amey was attacked in his Hawthorn apartment block’s underground car park just after 11.20pm on December 10, 2013, before being placed in the boot of a car and driven away.

Mr Amey’s body was found wedged between boulders at a peak on the north side of Mount Korong on December 18. The cause of death was multiple injuries including stab wounds, fractured ribs and neck injuries.

Mr Silbert said Ms Lindholm had been in a relationship with Mr Amey that had ended badly. They had been due in court over a property dispute the day after Mr Amey had been attacked and disappeared.

Ms Lindholm is accused of organising for Mr Trabert and Mr Ryan to kill Mr Amey.

Homicide acting detective sergeant Steve Trewayas told the court on Thursday that Mr Trabert was visibly upset and crying after his arrest, saying he was scared. Detective Trewayas said Mr Trabert claimed he was scared of Mr Ryan and scared for his family, his children and his wife.

After allegedly dumping the body at Mount Korong on December 12, Mr Trabert told police that he, Ms Lindholm and Mr Ryan drove back to Kyneton before parting company. Mr Trabert and Ms Lindholm then collected a yellow motorcycle and rode to a secluded spot in Kyneton where they had sex before riding back to Melbourne.

The hearing before deputy chief magistrate Felicity Broughton continues.