Nurse's killer used military technique, court told-A FORMER US marine murdered the nurse manager Michelle Beets using a technique that he learnt during his military training to kill an enemy sentry, a NSW Supreme Court jury was told yesterday.
Walter Ciaran Marsh, 50, came up behind Ms Beets as she arrived at her Chatswood home, slit her throat and stabbed her eight times in the chest using a flick knife, the Crown Prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, said.Mr Marsh hated Ms Beets because she did not extend his contract as a nurse in the emergency department of Royal North Shore Hospital and he believed she was giving him ''bad references'' to prospective employers, Mr Tedeschi said.On the night of the murder, Mr Marsh allegedly told his Vietnamese wife, Samantha, that he killed Ms Beets and their lives would improve as the bad references would no longer prevent him from getting work.
He also told her ''important details that he couldn't possibly know unless he was the killer'', Mr Tedeschi said. He had cut electricity to the house to disable the sensor light and had broken a window to make the murder look like a robbery gone wrong.
Mr Tedeschi said approaching a victim from behind and grabbing their chin is ''a technique that every single marine is taught at boot camp''.
''[It's] how to be a marine 101 - how to kill an enemy sentry with minimal opportunity from them to call out and alert other people.''
Mrs Marsh is expected to tell the jury that her husband practised the technique on her and her brother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in the weeks before Ms Beets's murder.
Outside the court, Ms Beets's partner, David Grant, said he continues to grieve her ''tragic and deeply distressing'' death.
''The trial presents the opportunity for justice. It will also be a testing time for all of us,'' he said.
Mr Marsh, a US citizen, was desperate to get work as a nurse because, without employment in that field, his 457 visa would become invalid.
The couple could not live in the US as Mrs Marsh had been denied entry to the country.
Walter Ciaran Marsh, 50, came up behind Ms Beets as she arrived at her Chatswood home, slit her throat and stabbed her eight times in the chest using a flick knife, the Crown Prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, said.Mr Marsh hated Ms Beets because she did not extend his contract as a nurse in the emergency department of Royal North Shore Hospital and he believed she was giving him ''bad references'' to prospective employers, Mr Tedeschi said.On the night of the murder, Mr Marsh allegedly told his Vietnamese wife, Samantha, that he killed Ms Beets and their lives would improve as the bad references would no longer prevent him from getting work.
He also told her ''important details that he couldn't possibly know unless he was the killer'', Mr Tedeschi said. He had cut electricity to the house to disable the sensor light and had broken a window to make the murder look like a robbery gone wrong.
Mr Tedeschi said approaching a victim from behind and grabbing their chin is ''a technique that every single marine is taught at boot camp''.
''[It's] how to be a marine 101 - how to kill an enemy sentry with minimal opportunity from them to call out and alert other people.''
Mrs Marsh is expected to tell the jury that her husband practised the technique on her and her brother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in the weeks before Ms Beets's murder.
Outside the court, Ms Beets's partner, David Grant, said he continues to grieve her ''tragic and deeply distressing'' death.
''The trial presents the opportunity for justice. It will also be a testing time for all of us,'' he said.
Mr Marsh, a US citizen, was desperate to get work as a nurse because, without employment in that field, his 457 visa would become invalid.
The couple could not live in the US as Mrs Marsh had been denied entry to the country.
