Murder accused beekeeper ‘pinned under honey tub’

AN AUSTRALIAN man accused of murdering a fellow beekeeper so he could steal his honey was nabbed after one of the stolen tubs fell on him, a court has heard.

Donald Robert Alcock, 34, is facing trial for shooting Anthony Ross Knight in the back as the beekeeper slept at his home at Woodford, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, in May 2007.

Alcock has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutor Daniel Boyle told the Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane that Alcock was in serious financial trouble when he went to Knight’s property with the intention of stealing honey worth $40,000 (about €20,000).

He said Alcock made the decision to shoot Knight when he realised he could not steal the barrels and tubs of honey without waking him.

The court was told Alcock later confessed his deed, telling police: “If Tony was home I was going to have to maim him or hurt him bad if I was going to knock off the honey.

“I was only out to hurt him, I wasn’t out to kill him. I thought (the bullet) would go straight through him, actually.”

Alcock, who lived in Tenterfield at the time, loaded the largest tubs of honey onto the back of his truck and drove them to a major honey distributor, the court was told.

But he became pinned under one of the 1,400kg tubs as he tried to unload it from the truck, Boyle said.

Emergency services officers were called and Alcock was taken to hospital while police took photographs of the scene.

Those photos were Alcock’s undoing as they showed special markings on the tubs that identified them as Knight’s property.