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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Sam Rigney

Danielle Easey murder: Justin Dilosa pleads not guilty on first day of trial

Danielle Easey was murdered and her body dumped in Cockle Creek in 2019.

A MAN accused of murdering Danielle Easey at a house at Narara in 2019 has pleaded not guilty and will face a lengthy trial in NSW Supreme Court.

But Justin Kent Dilosa on Wednesday pleaded guilty to a charge of being an accessory to the murder of Ms Easey, whose body was found dumped in Cockle Creek on August 31, 2019.

Mr Dilosa will face an estimated four-to-six week trial in Sydney focusing on what happened to Ms Easey at a home in Reeves Street two weeks earlier.

It is the prosecution case that Mr Dilosa, Ms Easey and Carol McHenry were at the home on the afternoon or evening of August 17 when Ms Easey was killed, Crown prosecutor John Stanhope said during a brief overview of the case on Wednesday.

"She was killed in a way that left her with very serious head injuries and multiple stab wounds," Mr Stanhope said.

"Later on that night, Mr Dilosa and Ms McHenry drove away from the home at Narara, leaving the body of Ms Easey inside the home.

"You will hear evidence that Mr Dilosa and Ms McHenry returned to that house on at least two occasions in the course of the following week. "The body of Ms Easey was eventually wrapped in various ways, placed in a cupboard and the cupboard was placed into a vehicle. The vehicle was driven to the house where Mr Dilosa was living and remained in a vehicle there for several days before Mr Dilosa dumped the body in Cockle Creek."

Mr Stanhope warned jurors they would see a number of photographs that could be distressing or confronting and said the evidence from some witnesses would touch on methamphetamine use and low-level criminal activity.

He said a "very important" part of the case would be the evidence of some witnesses who say they were told certain things by Ms McHenry and Mr Dilosa following the death of Ms Easey.

Mr Stanhope and Public Defender Angus Webb, for Mr Dilosa, are expected to deliver opening addresses on Thursday before the evidence commences.

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