ACCUSED TELLS OF KILLING DRUG DEALER

A GOLD Coast bottle shop attendant confessed to police in gruesome detail
how he savagely bashed a drug dealer to death with his fists, a court was
told yesterday.

He claimed he had become enraged after the man had taunted him over losing
his job.

In a video-taped police record of interview played in Southport Magistrates
Court yesterday, an emotional Andrew Ian Jeffries, 23, described how he
killed invalid pensioner George Green, 34, on February 15 this year.

A friend found Mr Green with a fractured skull and broken collarbone in the
bathtub of his Currumbin unit.

During the 100-minute interview, Jeffries said he went to Green's unit to
buy a $25 bag of marijuana but a violent argument started between the two
when Green accused him of being a thief.

"He bought it up that he heard I had been sacked from the Tugun Tavern ...
for stealing," Jeffries said.

"He was just being a smart arse ... but I just went crazy and started
hitting him."

Jeffries said he had punched Green in the head many times and then started
to kick him in the head when he collapsed unconscious on the floor.

He said he then dragged Green's bloodied body to the bathroom and put it in
the bathtub, after filling it with water.

"I wasn't sure if he was dead. I went down on my knees and punched him.
Then ... he looked dead, so I dragged him to the bathtub," Jeffries said.

When asked by investigating officer Det-Sgt Paddy Feneley why he had not
called an ambulance, Jeffries said he was a coward and afraid of being
charged with murder.

"I stepped back and realised what I had done. I didn't mean to do it. I'm
very sorry," Jeffries said.

Det-Sgt Feneley told the court that after Jeffries had dumped Green's body
in the bath and attempted to clean up the blood around the house, he had
stolen Green's video recorder and four expensive fishing reels.

The stolen video recorder, which Jeffries pawned, led police to him,
Det-Sgt Feneley said.

He said Jeffries had initially told police his girlfriend had given him the
video recorder as a present but then admitted stealing it from Green's
unit.

The victim's brother Paul Green said George Green had dealt marijuana in
the area for 10 years and became depressed after losing his job four years
ago because of a back complaint.

He said his brother had become very security conscious and kept two
baseball bats and knives in the house.

"There was a touch of paranoia about him. If it wasn't someone he knew at
the door, he would grab a baseball bat," he said.

Dr Charles Naylor, who performed the post-mortem on Green, said he had
alcohol, morphine, methadone, codeine, cannabis and an anti-depressant in
his body. Magistrate Laurie Mellors committed Jeffries, who did not enter a
plea, to the Supreme Court criminal sittings in Brisbane starting on
October 19.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)