Vic: Chang placed woman s body in car boot, court told

AAP General News (Australia)
02-02-2001
Vic: Chang placed woman s body in car boot, court told

MELBOURNE, Feb 2 AAP - Police intercepted a man accused of killing a woman and placing
her body in his car boot near the grave he had dug for her, the Victorian Supreme Court
was told today.

The court heard a traffic patrol officer came across Gabriel Omar Chang, near the open
grave in scrub off the Great Ocean Road, near Lorne in south-western Victoria, on November
12, 1999.

Chang, 32, of suburban Melton, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Dianne Psaila,
27, in November 1999.

Crown prosecutor Ray Alston said a pathologist had found the woman's skull was fractured.

However, the cause of death could not be determined.

Mr Alston said Chang got away from the officer who first questioned him, after striking
the policeman on the head with a fire extinguisher.

He was arrested the following day.

Mr Alston said that Chang told police that the woman, whom he knew, had visited him at his home.

There had been an argument, Ms Psaila had "freaked out" and attacked him. He had attempted
to push her away, and she had fallen and hit her head.

Chang had said that he had panicked when he found Ms Psaila was dead.

Mr Alston said that the police officer who intercepted Chang had found him lying next
to the open grave.

In the car the officer had found lime, brick acid and containers of petrol.

Defence counsel John Smallwood, QC, said his client had been attacked by Ms Psaila
and he had shoved her away.

Mr Smallwood told the jury: "He didn't mean to kill her or to hurt her".

The trial, before Justice Frank Vincent, is continuing.

AAP sew/imc/cjh/sb t

KEYWORD: CHANG

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