Bruce Anthony Coss Bingara murder trial: Robert Stonestreet gives eyewitness evidence in Moree supreme court

Robert Stonestreet was called as a Crown witness on Monday in the supreme court trial of Bruce Anthony Coss, 49, in Moree.

Coss has pleaded not guilty to murdering his neighbour, 45-year-old Mr Willis, by hitting him with a baseball bat on a dark street in Bingara, a town north of Tamworth, in late 2010.

Mr Stonestreet told the trial he was "pretty screwed up" after watching Coss bash Mr Willis twice with a bat that had a steel clamp on it.

"It's a big thing, it's murder man, it's scary s***," Mr Stonestreet said.

"I've done some pretty mad s*** in my life man, but I've never gone through something like this.

"I had a pretty good name and I didn't want to be involved in it, I was hoping lying would get me further away from it."

Mr Stonestreet was arrested in October 2019 - the same day as Coss - and was sentenced in the district court last year for concealing a major offence.

The trial heard Mr Stonestreet denied any knowledge of Mr Willis' disappearance for years because he wanted nothing to do with it.

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He said he never spoke about it after the night to anyone until 2018, when he confessed what he'd seen to a mate.

"[It's] hard to believe, still to this day, that it actually happened," he told the trial.

"[I] never spoke about it, never ever."

He eventually told detectives what he had seen during an interview in April 2020.

He detailed to the court how he, Coss and Scott Marle had smoked weed, drank alcohol and gone to Bingara's Sportsman's Hotel on a Friday night, before the trio ended up back at Coss' house.

He said he later followed Coss out the front to see what the dogs were barking at and saw Mr Willis on the street.

Coss was holding a baseball bat when an argument broke out between him and Mr Willis, the court heard.

"That's when I seen Bruce hit Darren in the belly with the bat and then Darren sort of bent over ... then Bruce hit him on the head with the bat," Mr Stonestreet said.

"He fell to the ground."

Mr Stonestreet said he saw Mr Willis' body lying on the road with blood coming from his ear but said he then went back inside and never saw Mr Willis again.

His body has never been found.

"I didn't go back out that front door," he told the trial.

"Me and Scott sat there for a couple of hours drinking, probably spinning out a bit."

Mr Stonestreet gave evidence that he heard Coss leave in his ute then start a fire when he returned.

The evidence of Mr Stonestreet and Mr Marle, as well as dozens of recorded conversations, are key to the Crown case.

An investigation was launched in early 2011, an inquest was held in 2014.

The investigation was restarted in 2018 after fresh information was reported to detectives.

The judge-alone trial continues before Justice Hament Dhanji.

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