Killer’s admission after sports drink attack

Sitting in a police station, Troy Maskell confessed to assaulting postmaster John Burke during a brief stop at the tiny town’s petrol station.

“I’ll cop what I cop because I’ve done it,” he said. “Honestly, I wish it never happened, but it has.”

But the 44-year-old, from Melbourne, changed his tune after the 73-year-old died in hospital three months later, denying he was responsible for the death.

This week, 12 members of a Victorian Supreme Court jury found Maskell unanimously guilty of manslaughter — ending an almost two year legal battle.

He nodded once but remained expressionless as the verdict was read out.

In arguments rejected by the jury, Maskell’s barrister Julie Munster contended the attack was not dangerous, as defined by law, and Mr Burke’s death could have been unrelated.

“Did the distasteful, shameful and unlawful assaults by Mr Maskell cause Mr Burke’s death three months later … the defence case is that it did not,” she said.

“From all accounts he was living with potentially life threatening conditions before this incident.”

As the local postmaster for 45-years, Mr Burke was well known and liked in the town of about 1000 residents situated in Victoria’s north, close to the NSW border.

He was dedicated to his role in the community, with his sister saying he never took a sick day after taking over when his dad retired following a 23-year-stint at the post shop.

Mr Burke lived alone behind the post office and would often walk 2km down to the local service station at odd hours for a meal and chat with the friendly attendants.

He couldn’t have known his visit, just after 12.30am on August 8, 2021, would be his last after a chance encounter with Maskell.

What happened on August 8, 2021.

“He was just his usual self … coming in for a chat late at night,” attendant Brenton North, whose shift started at midnight, recounted to the jury.

After about 10 minutes, the two men watched as a white utility vehicle pulled into the roadhouse.

Inside was Maskell, his then-partner, Fiona Taylor, their 10-year-old daughter and Ms Taylor’s 18-year-old son.

The group had attended a party at a friend’s home the evening before, where the adults consumed a considerable quantity of alcohol.

Maskell would later tell police the events at the service station were “very blurry”, but he accepted what police suggested occurred and expressed concern about Mr Burke’s condition.

“If that’s what happened, that’s what happened,” he said in an interview room just hours after the attack.

“I’ll cop what I cop because I’ve done it.”

Mr North told the court Ms Taylor was behaving erratically and he “wanted to serve them and get them out of the shop” as soon as possible.

When Mr Burke greeted the young girl, smiling and saying something like; “how are youse”, Ms Taylor accused him of being a paedophile.

“She said he was looking at the girl, John just seemed shocked by it all,” Mr North said.

When Mr Maskell entered the store, Mr North said he asked Mr Burke, “Do we have a problem here?”

He told the court Mr Burke replied, “No, we don’t have a problem”.

Captured on CCTV cameras, a few seconds later Mr Maskell picked up a 1L bottle of Maximus Isotonic sports drink and threw it at Mr Burke’s head.

The throw was followed by a kick to Mr Burke’s hip, which caused the elderly man to fall to the hard tile floor.

Maskell and Ms Taylor then stood over the injured man berating him before they were dragged away by Ms Taylor’s son.

Mr North said after the family left he checked on Mr Burke, who was conscious but in pain.

Hours after the attack, in hospital, medical staff identified a subdural haematoma, or brain bleed, on the left side of Mr Burke’s brain.

Later the same morning he was transferred to Melbourne where, days later his condition deteriorated following the discovery of a blood clot in his lung which led to complications, his family were forced to make the difficult decision to end treatment.

Mr Burke was placed in palliative care on October 16 and died 10 days later.

Health conditions a “fundamental issue” at trial

Prior to his death, Mr Burke was living with a number of serious health conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, liver disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy.

The latter became a key part of Maskell’s defence to the charge as medical experts testified cerebral amyloid angiopathy increases the risk of brain bleeds forming spontaneously.

Forensic pathologist professor Johan Duflou, who was called by Maskell’s lawyers, offered a different view of Mr Burke’s death to the one taken by his colleague Dr Yeliena Baber.

Dr Baber’s autopsy report stated Mr Burke‘s cause of death was multiple intracranial haemorrhage due to a blunt force trauma and subsequent bleeds to the brain.

Dr Duflou said he could not specifically say what caused the two brain bleeds, and therefore, if Maskell‘s actions were responsible at all.

“You know he assaulted Mr Burke … Our submission is that Mr Maskell did not cause the brain injuries and so did not cause Mr Burke’s death,” Ms Munster argued.

“We submit it was wrong to make the assumption that death was caused by the bottle throw.”

She told the court her client was “sorry” for what happened to Mr Burke.

In her closing address to the court, prosecutor Stephanie Clancy labelled Maskell‘s attack as “an act of gratuitous violence”.

She told the jury the law stipulates they only need to decide if Maskell’s actions were a “significant or substantial” cause of death.

“The prosecution does not need to prove direct or immediate cause … There are many causes of Mr Bourke’s death,” Ms Clancy said.

“Everything that happened in the lead up to Mr Bourke’s death was a consequence of the assault in the petrol station on August 8.”

Family reaction

As the guilty verdict was handed down, Mr Burke’s sister, Suzanne Hogg, reacted with a jolt, raising her arms in the air before clutching them in prayer position.

Earlier, she and other members of the family had been warned by the presiding justice, Lex Lasry, that their physical reactions during Ms Munster’s closing address were “not helpful”.

Outside of court, she told reporters she was “just exceptionally relieved” the trial was over and Maskell had been found guilty of John’s manslaughter.

“Justice has been done, John can now rest,” she said.

“John didn’t do anything … John was just – he was looking in the bain marie, no one deserves that.”

Ms Hogg said her family and the wider Strathmerton would be relieved and grateful justice was achieved after her brother’s death.

“John was my brother and I loved him dearly. He loved, loved, loved his family and his community,” she said.

Maskell will return to court in November.

Originally published as Troy Maskell ‘sorry’ for drunken sports drink attack which killed John Burke, 73