A former motorcyclist’s claim that he was merely an innocent bystander who witnessed the brutal death of a Sydney woman whose body was found burned in the bush has been rejected by a jury.
Namja Carroll, 33, was murdered on July 14, 2020 and her body was discovered 15 days later by a bushwalker walking through the Sandy Point area.
A jury on Wednesday found one of her killers, Benjamin Troy Parkes, guilty of murder after a six-week trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
The 46-year-old unsuccessfully argued that the man he was selling drugs with, Robert Sloan, was the one who beat Ms Carroll and tried to dispose of her corpse by dousing it in petrol and setting it on fire.
Namja Carroll (pictured), was murdered on July 14, 2020 and her body was discovered 15 days later by a bushwalker walking through the Sandy Point area
An anthropologist who examined her severely burned body found her skull had been shattered into 62 fragments, consistent with blunt force trauma, the court heard.
Parkes, Sloan and Ms Carroll met while staying at the Hunts Hotel in Liverpool, south-west Sydney.
In February, as the trial got underway, Crown prosecutor Darren Robinson told jurors that Ms Carroll had “invested” $8,000 in their illegal drug trade by using her pension.
The jury heard that Parkes became concerned that Ms Carroll ‘knew too much’ about his drug dealing and struck a deal with Sloan to kill her.
A former motorcyclist’s claim that he was merely an innocent bystander who witnessed the brutal death of a Sydney woman whose body was found burned in the bush (pictured) has been rejected by a jury
The jury heard that Parkes became concerned that Ms Carroll (pictured) ‘knew too much’ about his drug dealing and struck a deal with Sloan to kill her
Mr Robinson told jurors the pair had arranged to take her from the Hunts Hotel to an acquaintance’s home in Smithfield, where she stayed in his garage before she was killed.
Parkes denied it was murder and said he arrived at the Sandy Point location with a can of petrol to set Ms Carroll’s SUV on fire amid concerns it could be linked to their drug dealing.
He will be sentenced on May 24.