Australian man killed after drinking a mate’s beer

A court in Australia’s Northern Territory has heard that a man was killed in September last year after a flatmate discovered he had drunk one of his beers.

The court heard that Paul Stamp was beaten and then locked in the boot of a car and burned alive just one week after moving to the state to try and find work.

Gregory Channing, 41 and Gary Miles, 40 have both pleaded not guilty to murder.

The prosecutor, Paul Usher, claimed that Channing and Miles had returned to the apartment that the latter shared with Stamp and discovered that one of Miles’ beers was missing from the apartment’s communal fridge. Usher added that the pair then allegedly woke Stamp up to confront him about the missing beer before then beating him unconscious.

The court heard that the pair then put Stamp in the boot of a car and had planned to drive him to a secluded location and leave him there to find his own way home “in order to teach Stamp a lesson.” But the pair’s plans changed when the car they were driving ran out of fuel.

Usher said: “They discussed driving into the bush or an industrial area and leaving him there so he could find his own way home. When the car ran out of fuel Gary Miles ignited the vehicle with a cigarette lighter causing a raging fire.”

Police said Channing and Miles were arrested two days later because of their association with the victim and because of CCTV evidence.

The trial in Darwin continues.