A murdered drug dealer with “$50,000 on his head” was preparing to flee a day before he was locked in a toolbox and thrown in a creek, a court has been told.

February 6, 2020

A murdered drug dealer locked in a toolbox with an associate and thrown in a lagoon had “$50,000 on his head” and was preparing to flee Brisbane, a court has been told.

Cory Breton and Iuliana Triscaru’s decomposing bodies were found in February 2016 after police dragged the large metal box from Scrubby Creek south of Brisbane.

The pair had been lured to a unit in Kingston 18 days earlier after Mr Breton told a school friend he had a photo of a drug dealer on his phone, the Brisbane Supreme Court has heard.

Prosecutor David Meredith says the photo of Stou Daniels is central to the murder trial of Tuhirangi-Thomas Tahiata, 28.

Tahiata has pleaded not guilty but Mr Meredith says he drove the toolbox with the pair inside to the creek beside the Logan Motorway about 9pm and helped drag it to the water’s edge.

Lelan Harrington told the court he spotted Tahiata at the unit when the box with Mr Breton and Ms Triscaru was loaded onto Tahiata’s green Toyota Hilux ute.

He said he also saw Tahiata with Daniels and Trent Thrupp, who Mr Meredith said pushed the toolbox into the water as Tahiata watched.

In the hours before, Mr Breton and Ms Triscaru were bashed with a pole, bound and gagged, Mr Harrington told the jury.

“I heard the music go up … loud thuds and Cory screaming while his mouth was covered,” he said.

“I couldn’t believe what was going on.”

The court heard, the night before Mr Breton was called to the unit he confided to Harrington that he was preparing to flee Brisbane.

“Cory told me someone had 50 grand on him and he was going away up north,” he said.

A former convenience store owner Phat Tan Khuu told the trial he sent Mr Breton a photo of Daniels after asking who he bought his drugs from.

Mr Breton replied: “Yeah he’s a big-timer. Not a person to f**k with. LOL.”

The trial continues on Thursday.