NSW: Gay murder accused "blase" about HIV, court told

AAP General News (Australia)
04-07-2010
NSW: Gay murder accused "blase" about HIV, court told

By Katelyn Catanzariti

SYDNEY, April 7 AAP - A self-confessed promiscuous gay man says he was blase about
contracting the HIV virus in 1991, so it could not have been his motive for murdering
Felipe Flores.

Mr Flores' bruised and battered body was found on grassland near an area of inner Sydney
known as a "lover's lane" less than an hour after leaving an Oxford Street bar in the
early morning of September 2, 1991.

The 27-year-old from Ecuador had been punched, kicked and stomped on, the NSW Supreme
court has heard.

His face bore the impression of a shoe and his liver was almost split in two.

DNA tests in 2008 linked dirt found under Mr Flores' fingernails and on his shirt to
Paul Darcey Armstrong, who has been charged with his murder.

Armstrong, now 47, admits he may have had "sexual contact" with Mr Flores but he denies
leaving The Exchange Hotel with him, or murdering him.

At his trial, crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen submitted Armstrong had flown into
a rage once he discovered Mr Flores was HIV positive.

"(Perhaps) something was said about (Mr Flores') HIV status ... which animated the
accused to this violence which brought about the death of Mr Flores," she put to the jury
previously.

Armstrong's boyfriend at the time - formerly Stephan Webber, now transsexual Jacinta
Webber - said Armstrong had demanded they undergo HIV tests before having unprotected
sex because contracting the virus was his "biggest fear".

Armstrong has denied this.

"I wasn't afraid of HIV ... there's a risk with everything," he told the jury on Tuesday,
adding that he was "blase back then".

Armstrong, who has since contracted the virus, said at the time of the alleged offence
he was a "promiscuous male" who often had sex with more than one man in a night out.

"I made myself readily available to other homosexuals," he said.

Friends of Mr Flores described him being very proud and excited to be leaving with
a very tall, white man who matched Armstrong's description.

In her closing address to the jury on Wednesday, Ms Cunneen said the crown case was
"very strong".

"This is murder, plain and simple," she said.

"A terribly savage beating by a very large man on a much smaller man who was very restricted
(from) defending himself in the circumstances."

There was evidence of the tight time frame between Mr Flores' departure from the bar
and the discovery of his body, the description of Armstrong and his car and the DNA that
linked him to the scene, she said.

Then there was the admission he made to his partner within weeks of the attack, she added.

Ms Webber had told the court previously: "(He said) he had hurt somebody pretty badly
in the area, but when he had left he was still alive."

Ms Cunneen said it showed Armstrong had become "too cocky", thinking he'd gotten away
with murder.

"The accused couldn't help himself ... he couldn't help but boast," the prosecutor said.

Ms Cunneen invited the jury to go over the tapes of his 2008 police interview and observe
Armstrong's body language.

"Watch the accused's eyes - watch how he blinks when he mentions The Exchange Hotel
and when he's asked about cars," she said.

"He gets more and more worried about the facts that are being presented to him ...

"This is a man ... who knows very, very well that he killed Felipe Flores - he's had
it in his mind ever since."

Armstrong's barrister Andrew Haesler SC will begin his closing address on Thursday.

AAP kc/klm/tr/apm

KEYWORD: ARMSTRONG

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