Firewood Sale Caught On Tape
Newcastle Herald
Saturday October 14, 2000
A MAN accused of murdering two men and burning their bodies in sand dunes was allegedly videotaped buying large bundles of firewood on two consecutive nights last August.
A Newcastle Supreme Court jury heard yesterday that the man, Kevin Naismith, was allegedly filmed on a security surveillance camera at the service station in Maitland Rd, Mayfield.
Dean Lovegrove and Dane Woon, both console operators at the Quix service station, gave evidence that they sold the man petrol and firewood on August 17 and 18.
Mr Woon said he remembered the sale on his shift because it was the most firewood he had sold to anyone.
Before the court is Kevin Naismith, 30, of Whitburn Close, Charlestown.
Mr Naismith has pleaded not guilty to having murdered mate Danny Wasley, 30, and Mark Banks, 30, at Charlestown on August 16.
The two service station employees were shown photographs taken from a security video allegedly showing Mr Naismith making the purchases.
Mr Lovegrove said that on the night of August 18 Mr Naismith bought six or seven large bags of firewood and petrol.
`I think he said he was going camping,' Mr Lovegrove said.
Peter William Beath, a self-employed caterer, told the court he saw Mr Naismith vacuuming sand from the back of his four-wheel drive vehicle at CarLovers car wash in Newcastle West on August 17 or 18.
`I knew Kevin because I had catered for his 30th birthday at his house on August 14 and I went over to him to ask him how he thought the party went,' Mr Beath claimed.
`There appeared to be quite a lot of sand in the back of the vehicle.'
Mr Naismith introduced him to a friend, a man whose name was suppressed by the court this week.
Wayne Elder, a good friend of Mr Naismith, said that on one of his many visits to Mr Naismith's Whitburn Close house he was shown some firearms.
`About two weeks before the 16th of August Kevin showed me a .22 rifle that was on a rafter or above a door in the garage,' Mr Elder said.
`It was a .22 semi-automatic and it had a silencer. I said "What are you doing with that?" and Kevin said that he had got it from a mate.'
Mr Elder said Mr Naismith fired the rifle from inside the garage through an open window at a large tree in the backyard.
`Then he fired maybe five shots into the garage wall which left some holes in the wall,' he said.
Prosecutor Wayne Creasey asked Mr Elder whether he had said anything to his friend when the shots were fired.
`I told him he was a ratbag for doing it,' Mr Elder replied.
He said a man, whose name was suppressed when he gave evidence to the court this week, was also in the garage at the time.
Mr Elder said that some time after August 16 he had a conversation with Mr Naismith, who told him some of Danny Wasley's family thought Mr Naismith had something to do with Mr Wasley's disappearance.
`Kevin said they were upset with him and then he said he spoke to them and straightened it all out,' he said.
© 2000 Newcastle Herald