By Brendan Rees
A man who posed as a woman at a Berwick domestic violence shelter to stab a man to death has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.
Daniel Treasure, 35, pleaded guilty to the murder of Flek Repi in the Victorian Supreme Court sitting on 30 June in what Justice Paul Coghlan said was “a case of an armed robbery gone wrong”.
The court was told Treasure and his accomplice Matthew Coghlan were both armed with a knife with the intention of robbing their victim of drugs outside a communal housing block in Berwick on 30 April, 2018.
The court heard Treasure pretended to be a woman via text messages sent to the victim about buying drugs at the complex – where neither Treasure or Coghlan resided – in the lead up to the murder.
“Where I live there’s a complex for domestic violence babe,” Treasure said in a text. “So I’ll get you to park out the front, come to the front doors.”
The court was told Mr Repi, 36, was driven to the meeting point by a female friend as he suffered night blindness. Just hours earlier, she had driven him to Narre Warren police station to sign on for bail.
As the pair were waiting outside the complex at 10.39pm they were approached by Treasure and Coghlan, the court heard.
“Come on, give it to me” Treasure shouted.
At this stage the court heard Mr Repi’s female friend retrieved a box cutter from her handbag but was punched in the face by Treasure and fell.
A struggle then ensued which was captured on security cameras, the court heard. Mr Repi received multiple stab wounds to his upper body and died as a result of a single seven centimetre stab wound to his right chest.
The court heard the culprits left the scene but were caught on CCTV lifting a Telstra pit lid on the nature strip and placing a mobile phone inside before continuing to Treasure’s family home in Berwick where they discarded their clothes and caught a taxi.
However, the taxi was intercepted shortly after by police and the pair were arrested along with Coghlan’s partner. A knife with a bloodied handle inside a bag as well as a bloodstained jumper were found in the taxi.
Just hours before the killing, the court was told Coghlan had stolen a knife from a Woolworths store in Berwick.
The court heard Treasure had an intellectual disability and was on two community corrections orders at the time of offending,
He was also a chronic alcohol and drug user and on a Newstart allowance.
Justice Coghlan said there was a “degree of organisation” in Treasure’s offending including providing a false identity.
“By your own act of stabbing Mr Repi, you showed your preparedness to use the knife,” Justice Coghlan said.
Justice Coghlan said he accepted Treasure’s remorse and “genuinely regret” in Mr Repi’s death. He will be eligible for parole in 14 years.
