‘Stumbling, dying in pain': Woman breaks down reliving alleged moment Timothy Van Vo shot dead near Corinda home
Justin Richard Moulds-Steele, Andrew Van Mason, Cheyenne Anniki Petryszyn and Jay Allen Roberts are all charged with the murder of father-of-two Timothy Van Vo outside a home in Corinda three years ago.
Police allege Mr Vo, 38, was shot in the chest following an early-hours altercation outside a residence on Cliveden Ave – allegedly sparked over a dispute about a poor quality drug deal.
All four have not entered pleas to the charges.
During a committal hearing at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday, CCTV from the morning of October 4, 2022 – when Mr Vo died – was played to the court.
The brief black-and-white footage captures several figures brawling in the yard of the home before a weapon is fired.
Mr Vo is seen collapsing and blood spattering in the yard, before the groups separate.
Breanna Spiteri told the court she went to bed about 3.30am that morning and later heard a commotion break out involving her partner, who is not Mr Vo.
She said she heard 'loud, unusual' noises and someone being 'bashed', before racing downstairs and hearing a gunshot.
Ms Spiteri said she opened the door to find a male body on the ground.
She choked up in the witness box while recalling watching CCTV of the incident, seeing 'Timothy just stumbling around and dying in pain'.
'I didn't see that with my eyes, I just witnessed him laying on the ground,' Ms Spiteri said.
'But in the CCTV he is in so much pain, screaming and crying.'
Under cross-examination, Ms Spiteri acknowledged she believed she heard her partner crying out for help while he was allegedly being assaulted by three people at the home.
But after watching the footage, she acknowledged she did not see anyone 'striking or punching' her partner.
Barrister Angus Edwards – acting for Mr Moulds-Steele – asked: 'You've assumed what you were hearing was punching and kicking, but you didn't actually see anything?'
'Correct,' Ms Spiteri said.
She told the court she then ran out the door and saw five figures, including her partner, in the yard.
After ripping off one's balaclava, she realised one was a woman.
'She was just standing there, and I just come sprinting down the stairs, approaching the door fast … and just attacked her,' Ms Spiteri said.
'She backed up and she wasn't even fighting back.
'I was just so overwhelmed and enraged I just ripped off her balaclava.
'I could see the tallest person in a black balaclava holding a weapon in his hand, and he was shaking. He was the first person to turn around, sprint and jump over the fence.'
Ms Spiteri said she was then assaulted and fell back, before the rest of the group fled.
The Crown is expected to call 22 witnesses for the committal hearing.
The hearing continues.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
SBS Australia
an hour ago
- SBS Australia
Croc wrangler pleads not guilty to perverting justice in helicopter crash trial
Croc wrangler pleads not guilty to perverting justice in helicopter crash trial Published 28 July 2025, 5:15 am Celebrity crocodile wrangler Matt Wright has pleaded not guilty to three charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice when he appeared for trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court. SBS Northern Territory Correspondent Josh van Staden has more.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Annabel Digance files lawsuit against SA premier, claiming she was a victim of prosecution
Former South Australian MP Annabel Digance has launched a $2.3 million lawsuit against Premier Peter Malinauskas, claiming that he led a "malicious prosecution" in an attempt to damage her reputation. Documents filed in the Supreme Court by Ms Digance, against Mr Malinauskas and the State of South Australia, claim the former MP was a victim of a prosecution "motivated by [the premier's] own personal and political advantage". Ms Digance and her husband, Greg Digance, were previously facing blackmail charges in the Adelaide Magistrates Court after allegedly threatening to make allegations of misconduct against Mr Malinauskas in 2020 — when he was leader of the opposition. Those charges were dropped in April 2023. The court documents, filed by Sydney-based law firm Carroll & O'Dea Solicitors on behalf of Ms Digance, claim she was "maliciously prosecuted" by Mr Malinauskas, SA Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions. "The Applicant also alleges trespass to person and property, wrongful arrest and false imprisonment by the SA Police," the document reads. The document goes on to claim that Mr Malinauskas was "motivated to maximise his own and SA Labor's prospects of success at the 2022 state election" and that he, or a member of the SA Police, had provided information to the media in an attempt to "maximise the public humiliation of Mrs Digance". In a statement to ABC News, the premier said he was not surprised by the lawsuit. "It is not surprising the Digances have chosen to take this course of action, considering their previous behaviour," he said. "All I have ever wanted is for the Digances to leave me alone. "The Digances won't distract me from delivering for the people of South Australia." The case is due to be heard in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The Australian
2 hours ago
- The Australian
Closing arguments heard in Janelle Fletcher child abuse trial
The final arguments in the trial of a music teacher accused of sexually abusing a teen girl have circled around a movie night kiss captured in a photo booth and a series of emotionally charged emails. Janelle Colville Fletcher, 40, is contesting allegations that she groomed and sexually abused the underage girl some years ago and appeared again on Monday at the South Australian District Court before Judge Joanne Fuller. The prosecution, led by Chris Allen, allege Ms Fletcher abused the girl in various locations and also that she communicated with her and another teenage girl to make them amenable to sexual activity. Some of the alleged offending happened when the two girls and Ms Fletcher were alone together in a room, the prosecution said, with the teacher allegedly performing a lap dance on a chair. She then allegedly 'dared' the two girls to kiss each other and asked if they would 'date' each other. That same night, Mr Allen said, Ms Fletcher then spent time alone with one of the girls and touched her genital area. The alleged grooming and abuse of the girl then went on for months at various locations, the prosecution said, including the home of Ms Fletcher and in Ms Fletcher's car. Janelle Fletcher is contesting the allegation that she sexually abused a teen girl. Picture: NewsWire Alongside oral evidence from the alleged victims, the prosecution presented a series of texts, emails and photographs to support its case, including a photo of Ms Fletcher and the girl kissing at a cinema photo booth. In his closing address, Mr Allen said the 'objective evidence' of the photo booth kiss showed an 'unlawful sexual act'. He argued further that the 'sheer volume' of photos of Ms Fletcher and the girl together suggested a sexual relationship. 'They look like girlfriends (in the photographs) … in a relationship between girlfriends,' Mr Allen said. In her testimony from last week, Ms Fletcher said the photo booth kiss was a 'pretend kiss' she did not want or mean to happen. 'It was meant to be a pretend kiss like we had done previously where our lips don't actually touch, and in that particular photo we got close and she did sort of pull me in and the photo went off, yeah,' Ms Fletcher said. There is dispute between the defence and prosecution about the correct sequence order of photos from the booth. The prosecution says the correct sequence runs from top to bottom in the order of one, two, three and then four. In 'photo 4', Ms Fletcher appears happy and the prosecution argues this shows she was happy to kiss the girl and not shocked or upset by it. Ms Fletcher and her defence team, led by Andrew Culshaw, claim that photo was taken before the kiss and should not be seen as approval of the act, with the correct sequence of photos running one, two, four and then three. Mr Culshaw also argued the photo did not show child sexual abuse because the girl had turned 17 at the time of the photo, and so she was therefore not a child when the kiss happened. Further, Ms Fletcher was also no longer in a position of authority at the time of the kiss, the defence said. 'What Your Honour has, in my submission, is evidence of a kiss at a time when it was legal,' Mr Culshaw said. The prosecution argued that a series of emotionally expressive emails from Ms Fletcher to the girl revealed the 'true nature' of the relationship between them. In one email, Ms Fletcher told the girl 'I want something serious not something short term'. In others, she said 'my feelings for you are not lust but love' and 'right now, we can't be open. Right now we will have to continue as we are in secret …' Ms Fletcher holds a PhD in music education. Picture: NewsWire Ms Fletcher had earlier argued the emails showed non-sexual 'love' for the girl, but Mr Allen dismissed that argument on Monday as 'absurd'. 'This is not 'I love you' in some sort of Catholic way,' Mr Allen said. Mr Culshaw, in his closing address, acknowledged under questioning from Judge Fuller that the emails appeared 'terrible' on a first or literal reading in that they seemed to suggest the pair had been in a sexual relationship. But he argued a deeper reading of the emails fit with Ms Fletcher's testimony. She claimed last week that they were written to keep the girl happy and guide her away to a more age-appropriate relationship. 'These emails are consistent with a relatively young teacher, in her early 30s, who had got herself in too deep … and so was trying to deal with the situation and extricate herself from it,' Mr Culshaw said. Mr Culshaw said the only part of the emails that might be read as 'overtly' sexual was the line on 'lust', but he argued her denial of lust reaffirmed her evidence. 'Denial can't be then tortured into an admission,' he said. Further, he stressed Ms Fletcher was not being 'charged' with the content of the emails. In his afternoon address, Mr Culshaw invited Judge Fuller to look with scepticism on the credibility of the oral evidence presented at trial, drilling into what he called 'catastrophic inconsistencies' in the claims against Ms Fletcher. In one instance, he cast doubt on witness testimony to the 'truth or dare' game. The two girls spoke together about the alleged event after it had happened, he claimed, and there was a risk their evidence had been 'contaminated'. 'There is a risk here that these two witnesses have contaminated one another ... and the recollection, to the extent that it was consistent between the two of them, there is a risk that what Your Honour is getting is a single collective version of history rather than two separate and independent versions of history. 'They have both given evidence that there was a game of truth or dare, but neither of them could really say what the truths were, what the dares were, beyond the big headline matters.' Ms Fletcher holds a PhD in music education. She told the court that she was heterosexual and believed in the Catholic faith. She was still legally married to a man, though the pair had separated, she told the court. Judge Fuller will deliver her verdict on August 20. Duncan Evans Reporter Duncan Evans is a reporter for News Corp's NewsWire service, based in Adelaide. Before NewsWire, he worked as a resources and politics reporter for The Daily Mercury in Mackay, Queensland and as a reporter at CQ Today, an independent newspaper based in Rockhampton. He was raised in Emerald and Brisbane and studied English Literature and American Studies at the University of Sydney. He began his career in journalism working for the Jakarta Post in Indonesia for over two years as an editor, translator and writer. He is fluent in Indonesian. @Duncanevans01 Duncan Evans
