Axe murder at the cutting

Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann

A man’s body is found dumped with more than 20 axe wounds, leading to an investigation involving more than 100 interviews, a love triangle, a manipulative girlfriend and one celebratory bottle of champagne.

Before he was murdered near Bacchus Marsh on 11 April 1996, Noel Anthony Connolly was known as a kind and gentle man, devoted to working on cars and looking after his two children.

Inspector Bernie Edwards, who was a detective sergeant at the Homicide Squad and assigned to the case at the time, said Mr Connolly, 42, never deserved such a vicious end to his life.

“He lived in Bacchus Marsh with his de facto partner of many years, Ivy Waite,” Insp Edwards said.

“He and Ivy were attending an adult education centre with a number of people involved in this case. With the people we investigated, it was like some sort of soap opera of who was sleeping with who.”

While Mr Connolly was working hard to support his family, Ms Waite secretly started seeing another man, John Bewley Evans.

Evans, who was 14 years younger than Mr Connolly, had an intellectual disability and was infatuated with Ms Waite.

Ms Waite started filling Evans’ mind with falsehoods about Mr Connolly, claiming he would constantly beat her and the two children and pour hot water on them.

Incensed and driven by his love for Ms Waite, Evans wanted to take action.

Evans told his brother-in-law Keith Baskin, 33, that he was worried about the safety of Ms Waite and the children.

This triggered in Baskin memories of his childhood, when his father would drunkenly beat him and his mother.

Baskin had previously been given a suspended prison sentence for attacking a man with a hammer in 1990.

Baskin had been told the victim had been beating his own partner and son.

“Evans just wanted to bash Connolly, but Baskin, who had never met Connolly, was far nastier and said, ‘Why bash him? I’ll kill him’,” Insp Edwards said.

Evans and Baskin hatched a plan to drive Mr Connolly to pick up some car parts and then pretend to have car trouble.

They did just that on the night of 11 April 1996 and pulled off the Old Western Highway at a location known as Anthony’s Cutting, between Bacchus Marsh and Melton West.

According to Insp Edwards, when Mr Connolly offered to take a look at the engine, Baskin grabbed a tomahawk Evans had earlier placed in the boot of the Holden Kingswood.

“As Connolly’s looking under the bonnet, Baskin hits him with the tomahawk and then just keeps on hitting him,” Insp Edwards said.

Mr Connolly suffered more than 20 wounds, mainly to the head and neck, but also to his hands, indicating he tried in vain to shield himself from the onslaught.

Baskin and Evans then dumped Mr Connolly’s body in nearby bushes.

Insp Bernie Edwards returns to the scene where Noel Anthony Connolly was murdered more than 23 years ago.

Evans dropped Baskin back at his Melton South home before going to tell Ms Waite of the murder.

“Evans and Ivy caught up with other friends and, in two car loads, they drove through a bottle shop at Deer Park to buy champagne to celebrate the killing,” Insp Edwards said.

“Evans is alleged to have held the champagne out the car window and shouted, ‘Let’s celebrate!’”

The following morning, a farmer and his son stumbled across Mr Connolly’s brutalised body.

The Homicide Squad was informed and Insp Edwards’s crew started what would turn into a thorough six-month investigation.

The crew was made up of brilliant investigators, who would all go on to rise through the ranks of Victoria Police.

Joining Insp Edwards was Stephen Curnow, who retired from Victoria Police as an inspector, Ken Ashworth and Dean Thomas, both now inspectors, Dave Jones, now a superintendent, and Rick Nugent, who is now a Deputy Commissioner.

“With the circle of people involved in this adult education centre, we had a lot of people to investigate,” Insp Edwards said.

“That’s where the local Bacchus Marsh police and their local knowledge of all the identities became vital.

“We ended up interviewing more than 100 people, and some of them weren’t too forthcoming.

“When we went to tell Ivy about the murder, she feigned shock and horror, saying it was the first she knew about it.

“It was a really hard slog, with a lot of statements and a lot of door-knocking.”

But a breakthrough came when one woman appeared to show too much interest during her interview.

“She was quite concerned with the viciousness of the murder, asking questions like, ‘Were his injuries really bad? Would he have suffered?’” Insp Edwards said.

“She was too inquisitive and that made me take notice.

“I remember saying to her how brutal it all was and how much pain he would have gone through.

“The next day, she contacted us again and said, ‘What I said wasn’t right’, and she ended up making another statement.”

This statement led the detectives to Baskin and Evans.

When interviewed, each man blamed the other for Mr Connolly’s murder.

Baskin tried telling police that when they stopped the car, he had gone off into the bush to urinate and came back to find Mr Connolly dead at the hands of Evans.

Yet when police produced the murder weapon in the interview, he dramatically changed his story.

Baskin said Evans was still striking Mr Connolly when he came back from urinating and the tomahawk was then passed to him.

Baskin claimed he only struck Mr Connolly once to the jaw and twice to the throat.

It was a story at odds with Evans’ own claim that Baskin alone wielded the tomahawk.

Police did not believe Baskin’s version of events due to the steepness of the ground he said he crossed to urinate.

“It was pitch black out there and so steep, no one in their right mind would climb down such difficult terrain just to urinate,” Insp Edwards said.

“It just was not at all believable.”

Evans and Baskin were tried separately on murder charges at the Supreme Court and the detectives organised for the judge and jury in Baskin’s case to visit the scene of the crime to survey the steep terrain.

The unique move worked, with Justice John Coldrey and the jury refusing to believe Baskin’s toilet tale.

“I have no doubt the jury regarded this assertion as absolutely ludicrous and were satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you never left the scene of the killing,” Justice Coldrey said in his sentencing remarks in April 1998.

Both men were found guilty of murder, with Baskin sentenced to 16 years in prison with a minimum of 12 years and Evans sentenced to 14 years in prison with a minimum of nine years and six months.

Yet Ivy Waite, described as “manipulative” by Justice Coldrey never fronted the courts.

“Ms Waite was more sophisticated than Mr Evans and was able to manipulate him,” Justice Coldrey said.

“While Ivy had planted the seed in Evans’ mind, there was never any evidence she actually told him she wanted him to kill Connolly,” Insp Edwards said.

In the months after the murder, Ms Waite was ready to make a claim for thousands of dollars in crime compensation as the de facto partner of Mr Connolly.

After getting wind of the compensation proceedings, Insp Edwards explained the evidence police had of Ms Waite, Evans and their friends celebrating with the champagne.

Ms Waite duly dropped her compensation claim.