Maltese man faces trial in Australia for killing, axing and dissolving victim in acid

Leonard Borg 28 stood in the dock at his trial by jury in front of a Victoria State Court this morning, charged with murdering  Peter Rule,  56, on November 15, 2009, at the Campbellfield factory Borg was  renting with a friend to cultivate drugs.

The prosecution alleged that Borg shot Rule ten times with a .22 semi-automatic rifle.

 He had allegedly told others he was going to "get Rule"  because he believed he was betraying him with the police, revealing  his cannabis growing operations at a house he was renting from his

brother-in-law. The property was later raided by police, but no drugs were found.

Prosecutor Mark Gibson said the State believed after fatally shooting Rule, Borg contacted a friend who he asked  to buy bleach, garbage bags and rags and bring them to the  factory.

The friend complied and when he arrived, was instructed by Borg not to look in the area near the woman's toilet.

Gibson said Rule's body was believed to have been  moved to the back of Borg's blue Volvo by then, adding that the  friend would testify during the trial that he helped Borg clean the mess.

The pair are alleged to have then driven to another  factory where they left one of the cars and went  out and bought a 15-litre container of petrol and several bags  of firewood before Borg was dropped off and the friend went  home.

The following day, when the friend returned to the site, he saw Borg burning Rule's remains in a

44 gallon drum. It was here that a friend will claim that Borg  detailed the murder to him, the jury was told.

Gibson said in the following days the two had purchased  more items to help dispose of Rule's body, including a black  tub, an electric chainsaw, a hatchet, citronella oil and hydrochloric acid.

They crushed any identifiable parts of Rule's body and  put into a tub to which the acid was added.

The prosecution alleged the men then drove to another place where they discarded garbage bags in a marsh, before they disposed of the tub's contents in the ocean.

Upon returning to Melbourne, they went back to the place where they had destroyed Borg's remains and cleaned out their victim's car, which included throwing away car boot mats from both vehicles, the court heard.

Borg then travelled to Malta from November 21, 2009, to  January 15, 2010, but during a telephone conversation with  another friend while he was away, was told that Rule was missing and police were investigating.

Gibson said when Borg returned to Australia, he and his accomplice burned and disposed of more items relating to the  alleged crime. But when he was approached by police, Borg told investigators he knew nothing about  Rule's disappearance. He  also and gave a false account of his movements on the day Mr  Rule was last seen alive.

The men also painted the floor of the site they destroyed Rule's remains - an abandoned factory -   with blue pain to cover evidence.

As police continued to search for information about Rule's whereabouts, Borg's friend confessed his involvement to  police on April 5. He took investigators to where he and Borg had disposed of  the items.

Bone fragments were among the forensic evidence found, as  was burnt black plastic with flecks of blue paint.

Gibson said blood spatters were also later found by officers, which once tested, were  found to be 1.5 billion times more likely to contain Rule's DNA than anyone else in the Caucasian population.

After more items were seized during multiple search  warrants, Borg was arrested and charged with Rule's murder.

Defence lawyer Carmen Randazzo, reminded the jury  that her client was innocent until proven otherwise and said  they had to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Rule  was dead and that Borg had killed him.

"There's good reason why you won't be satisfied, because he didn't do it," she said.

She  accused Borg's accomplice - a key prosecution witness - of lying about what had happened, adding that there was no forensic evidence proving her client was responsible for the  murder in the circumstantial case."

(The accomplice) and others,  but not Leonard Borg, are responsible for the disappearance of  Peter Rule," she said.The trial continues before Justice Lex Lasry.