Bare-handed killer in rum rage before murder, jury told

A jury will decide if a regional NSW man deliberately beat an elderly pensioner while in a drunken rage and caused the disabled resident's death.

Anthony Davies, 35, is accused of murdering Kenneth Campbell at his home in the central-west town of Parkes shortly after 2am on May 6, 2020.

He was allegedly searching for his friend's teenage daughter, who had run away from a home in the streets near where Mr Campbell lived.

While looking for the girl, Davies allegedly entered Mr Campbell's home and assaulted the 74-year-old in his bedroom, causing his death.

The jury retired to begin deliberations on Friday following a three-week NSW Supreme Court trial in Bathurst.

As well as the murder charge, the jury will consider two lesser, alternative charges of manslaughter and assault occasioning death.

In summing up the case for the jury, Justice Michael Walton said prosecutors heavily relied on witness accounts of Davies' words and actions around the time of the alleged murder.

They reported seeing a heavily intoxicated Davies banging on doors and making threats before the alleged murder.

One witness reported hearing Davies say, "I'm going to kill this pedo c***."

Another person said the then-31-year-old was heard stating, "I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill everyone on the street".

Davies told police he had consumed a large amount of homemade rum on the night of the incident and was so drunk that he could not remember anything that had happened.

Prosecutors argued his "violence, aggression and scary behaviour" on the night were captured on CCTV footage, Justice Walton said.

The Crown also relied on the discovery of Davies' bloody thumb print on Mr Campbell's bedroom door, as well as what was highly likely to be a mix of both men's DNA found under his alleged killer's fingernail.

Mr Campbell had been involved in two accidents that dramatically changed his behaviour and left him with scars to his face, a traumatic brain injury and only one eye.

Despite never having been charged with any sexual offences, he was nicknamed "Chester the molester" as a result of his injuries and strange behaviour.

Expert evidence from both parties determined the cause of death to have been blunt-force trauma, which caused bleeding on Mr Campbell's brain.

Lawyers for Davies argued the 74-year-old was already suffering from an acute subdural haemorrhage in his brain, which was the true cause of his death.

Medical examination revealed fresh bleeding in Mr Campbell's brain at or around the time of his death, but the jury heard it was inconclusive whether the injury occurred at the time of the alleged attack or earlier.