Vic: Three guilty of Melbourne lawyer's murder

AAP General News (Australia)
04-05-2004
Vic: Three guilty of Melbourne lawyer's murder

By Stuart Walsh

MELBOURNE, April 5 AAP - Three men today stood impassively in the dock as a Supreme
Court jury found them guilty of the murder of a Melbourne solicitor whose body has never
been found.

Keith William Allan, 53, of Northcote, was last seen on May 28, 2000.

The crown said Mr Allan's then clerk, Julian Clarke, 47, plotted the murder to cover
up his own gambling debts.

Clarke fuelled his gambling habit by siphoning off cash from Mr Allan's trust account,
which was later found to have $500,000 missing from it, the court was told.

Crown prosecutor Colin Hillman, SC, told the jury one of Clarke's personal bank accounts
showed $4.3 million had gone through it.

Clarke, of Burwood East; Costas Athanasi, 39, of Keilor Downs; and Sudo Cavkic, 36,
of Delahey near Taylors Lakes pleaded not guilty to murder.

A pre-sentencing hearing will be held before Justice Philip Cummins on April 19. No
date has yet been set for sentence.

The jury deliberated for six days before reaching its verdicts.

The court was told Clarke was a regular visitor to the Crown Casino Mahogany Room for
high rollers.

There he befriended former Geelong mayor Frank De Stephano, from time to time giving him money.

De Stephano, a former accountant, is now serving a 10-year jail sentence.

He pleaded guilty to 12 counts of theft which involved gambling away more than $5 million
of clients' money.

Mr Allan was described as a "mild mannered" and hard working man whose lifestyle focused
on his work, dealing mainly with conveyancing and an interest in harness racing.

Hours after Mr Allan was last seen, police officers on routine patrol came across Cavkic
and Athanasi at a lonely spot in Laverton.

Cavkic was in the driving seat of Mr Allan's Mercedes and Athanasi was parked nearby
in another car.

Police later found a pistol in Cavkic's underpants.

In the Mercedes was a petrol tin, Mr Allan's driving licence, his mobile phone and
a shovel and hoe with fresh soil on them.

Mr Hillman told the court DNA testing, using samples from Mr Allan's hairbrush, proved
blood spots on Cavkic's clothing were 900 billion times more likely to come from Mr Allan
than anyone else.

During the trial, defence lawyers said that Mr Allan knew about Mr Clarke's activities
and of deficiencies in the trust fund. They also pointed out that the prosecution could
not prove that Mr Allan was actually dead.

Outside court today, Mr Allan's brother Lyle Allan said his brother was "a very good
and decent person who worked hard and had helped a lot of people".

AAP sew/dk/cmc/de

KEYWORD: CAVKIC NIGHTLEAD

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