A farmer accused of murdering his wife of 25 years in a “staged accident” by crashing a car into a tree and then burning her alive repeatedly lied to police before he was finally charged a decade later, a Perth court has heard.
Gregory Paul Johnston is on trial in the West Australian Supreme Court accused of killing 56-year-old Susi Elizabeth Johnston at their Borden farm on December 6, 2008.
Prosecutor Justin Whalley told the jury on Monday that Johnston was the victim’s sole financial beneficiary and also mistakenly believed she had taken out a life insurance policy days before her death.
Mr Whalley said Johnston had been unfaithful and days after his wife’s death transferred $15,000 into the bank account of a woman he had met online, then married her nine months later.
The mother-of-two was allegedly incapacitated and burnt alive, while her husband had no visible injuries.
