The ABC reported yesterday that a witness in the murder trial of Warren Batchelor has spoken to the Supreme Court.
Daniel Wade Jones and Mark Taylor are on trial for the murder of Warren Batchelor, 48, at Middle Swan Reserve in November 2013.
Bachelor was previously a well known DJ in Sydney performing as DJ Coco.
The court was told that Batchelor was punched, kicked and beaten with a metal pole. The witness was reportedly in the disabled toilet with Batchelor when the attack occurred.
The ABC reported that Jones and Taylor were camping in the area and attacked Batchelor in “a vigilante attack” to “rid” the area of gay men.
The witness said he heard someone bang on the toilet door before it was “booted in”. He said Batchelor was “king hit”, and then fell to the ground, where he was punched, kicked and stomped on. He testified that the second attacker has a metal pole which he used to hit Batchelor.
“I heard the thuds and I knew instantly they were hitting him really hard,” he told the court.
WA Today reported that the pair threatened the witness before leaving, with one of the men brandishing a knife and stating “My fucking kids are in here”, before the witness charged at the men and left in a car with a friend.
According to the West Australian, Taylor’s lawyer, Simon Freitag, said that Taylor threw a few punches at the man who was in the toilet with Batchelor before chasing him with a knife, and was in the car park for some time while Jones was in the cubicle with Batchelor.
Jones’ lawyer has stated that his client never entered the toilet cubicle with Taylor.
Batchelor regained consciousness after the assault but died in hospital two days later.
The trial continues.
OIP Staff
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12-03-2014 Murder victim was well know Sydney DJ
Well, I knew Warren Batchelor personally over a drink or two (and not from beats). He was a good man – intelligent, affable and exceptionally kind. He certainly loved his music! His murder (with clear intent or mens rea) is a reminder of two things. The first is that ‘hate crimes’ on the basis of sexuality continue to be unlawfully perpetrated. The second reality is that men should wise-up to the fact that ‘toilet block’ sex comes with more risk than simply catching an STI or a formal charge from police if caught. A reasonable person would question why ‘heterosexual’ people aren’t given to public toilet sex to the same extent as some (but not all) gay/bi men. Perhaps it is time for ‘beat dwellers’ to second guess their behaviour in the interest of their own safety as well as community perceptions about gay men. Where do gay/bi men draw the line between sexual hedonism and social responsibility?
That was the point of my premise Mark – outside of a thought experiment there are no heterosexual outdoor ‘beats’ operationally similar to the gay ones we hear of. The question is why?