NT:Men blame each other for teacher's killing

AAP General News (Australia)
12-13-2011
NT:Men blame each other for teacher's killing

By Xavier La Canna

KATHERINE, NT, Dec 13 AAP - Two men are blaming each other for the death of a former
Northern Territory school teacher accused of having sex with former students, an inquest
has heard.

At the inquest into the death of Michael Condrick, a 50-year-old former teacher, counsel
assisting the coroner Elisabeth Armitage, said there was evidence linking both Samuel
Wesan and another man, who was a juvenile at the time, to the death.

Ms Armitage told the hearing that both men were blaming each other for the death of
Mr Condrick, who is believed to have died within minutes of being stabbed in the neck
at his home in Katherine, about 300km south of Darwin, on June 21st last year.

She told the court hearing in Katherine that many young men Mr Condrick had taught
would at times visit his home to drink alcohol or smoke cannabis.

Mr Condrick was thought to have been in homosexual relationships with some of the young men.

"It is believed that while Mr Wesan and (the boy) were present at Mr Condrick's home,
he was stabbed in the neck," Ms Armitage said.

She said Wesan, who is due to give evidence on Thursday, had claimed the boy and Mr
Condrick were together in the bedroom when he heard a loud noise and saw that Mr Condrick
had been stabbed in the neck.

But the boy, who is now an adult and is also expected to give evidence on Thursday,
gave a different account to his girlfriend, Ms Armitage said.

She said he told his girlfriend that Wesan had stabbed the former teacher in the neck.

Following the killing, some items including an Xbox, iPad, telephone and a backpack
were stolen from the house.

The inquest heard evidence from Trevor Tydd, who worked at a service station and who
spoke to Wesan about 1.26am on June 22nd.

Mr Tydd told the hearing that Wesan had told him a white man had been stabbed, and
pointed to his neck to show where the wound was located.

Wesan had blood splattered on his shirt, Mr Tydd said.

The girlfriend of the boy told the inquest before Coroner Greg Cavanagh that on the
night of the killing her boyfriend had left home at 8pm after an argument and had returned
some time between 2am and 4am the next morning.

She said the boy had had blood on his top and had shown her a knife that had dried
blood on the end.

"(He) said someone got stabbed," she said, speaking via an interpreter.

The boy went to trial for the murder of Mr Condrick earlier this year but the case
was abandoned partway through.

Ms Armitage told the inquest that the trial had been abandoned partly because police
had conducted interviews with the accused against his wishes and had left him in a cell
without water or a mattress for periods of time.

AAP xlc/dg/goc/wf/wjf

KEYWORD: LEGAL: CONDRICK UPDATE (PICS AVAILABLE)

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