One of the three boys accused of murdering Canberra man Peter Keeley spoke to him through a dating app before he was found dead, while another believed he was a paedophile, a NSW court has heard.
The body of the 56-year-old was found in bushland at Broulee on the NSW south coast on February 2, 2020.
Three 17-year-old boys were charged with his murder and two of them, now aged 19 and 20, are facing a judge alone trial in the Supreme Court.
Both have pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping but deny the murder charges.
During opening submissions, Crown prosecutor Nerrisa Keay argued Mr Keeley died because the teenagers assaulted him.
"The Crown case is that the deceased died as a result of the assault perpetrated upon him by the three accused, and that he died during that assault or immediately after," she said.
The Crown said Mr Keeley met with the three accused at 3:33pm on February 2, and that they were back home about 4:30pm, 15 minutes before Mr Keely's body was found.
Defence Barrister Clive Steirn told the court the background facts of the case were largely not in dispute, but the Crown's argument that the death was caused by trauma to the head was "flawed and should not be accepted".
He said he would call on expert evidence which would find that Mr Keeley's death could instead be the result of methamphetamine toxicity.
Court sees videos of accused
The Crown played a recorded video of an hour-long police interview with one of the accused currently on trial, during which he told detectives he was "under the impression that [Mr Keeley] was a paedophile".
In the video, detectives said the other co-accused currently on trial had been chatting with Mr Keeley on the dating app Grindr in the days leading up to his death.
The accused being interviewed said he was not at the scene of the attack, but that his co-accused currently on trial bashed Mr Keeley.
When detectives asked if he, or the other co-accused, had any hatred towards gay people, he replied "no".
He then told detectives he arrived at the scene where Mr Keeley had already been attacked by the other co-accused on trial.
He said he rolled Mr Keeley from his back to his side, noting there was tape around his ankles and head, although detectives said they found tape also around his hands and the tape was cut at the mouth.
He told detectives as part of the interview that he never planned on meeting Mr Keeley, but intended to meet up with his co-accused "in case he did get molested or raped".
He also said Mr Keeley was covered in dirt but was groaning and breathing before all three left, and there was "no intention to kill him".
The trial continues.
