A YOUNG couple who lived in Derwent Drive have told a Supreme Court jury they heard a man yelling at someone to “get out of my house” about two hours before a fatal fire which killed 45-year-old Darren Reid in 2016.
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They later noticed about four fire trucks at the house where they believed the yelling was coming from.
The evidence was heard on the third day of a Supreme Court trial of Kate Stone, charged with murdering Mr Reid on December 18, 2016. Stone’s defence claims she was not the murderer.
Kate Stone murder trial:
Prosecutors allege Stone doused Mr Reid with enamel thinner and set him alight at their home on Derwent Drive, Long Gully.
Young couple Shelby-Lee Ferguson and Cody Gray gave evidence to the court on Thursday, both detailing a walk they took down Derwent Drive between 8.30pm and 9pm – about two hours before the fire.
Ms Ferguson said they were passing near Hercules Street when they heard yelling from just down the street.
“Just heard yelling, I heard a man yelling, he sounded really angry, he was saying ‘get out of my house’ and stuff like that. ‘Get out of my house, I don’t want you here’,” she said.
“He was angrily yelling.
“We could hear it from Hercules Street. That’s like four or five houses up from their house where we heard the yelling.”
Mr Gray said he recalled hearing two voices, and they listened for several minutes.
“It was just general arguing with each other, that’s what it sounded like,” he said.
“A male and a female.
“We stopped for a minute, then we just kept walking.”
Both admitted it was common to hear yelling from houses in the Derwent Drive area, but they believed the yelling came from the house where the fire later occurred.
Kaleb Macdonald – a nephew of Mr Reid – told the court he heard yelling from the direction of Mr Reid and Stone’s house around 10.30pm to 11pm, close to the time of the fire.
“Couldn’t really hear anything, could just hear yelling from behind… back towards Darren’s place,” he said.
The next morning Stone arrived at Mr Macdonald’s house to tell the family that Mr Reid had been flown to Melbourne after being set on fire.
Mr Reid suffered burns to 95 per cent of his body.
Stone changed out of her clothes while at the house, but Mr Macdonald said he did not see what happened to the clothes she was wearing.
The trial continues on Monday.
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