Killer’s teenage relative admits axing friend

The boy, who cannot be named because he was a juvenile at the time of the killing, pleaded guilty in a Sydney court to killing 17-year-old David Auchterlonie.

David’s battered body was found last year in a shallow grave in the remote Belanglo State Forest, south-west of Sydney.

His killer is a relative of Ivan Milat, who is serving a life sentence for murdering seven young backpackers between 1989 and 1992. Milat buried his victims in shallow graves in the Belanglo forest.

The teenage killer told some friends about what he intended to do after luring David to party with him in the forest but they dismissed the claims.

A day after the murder, police said he bragged he was doing what his family was known for, adding: “I killed somebody last night.”

A video recording of the murder was made on a mobile phone by one of two friends who travelled in a car into the forest with them.

It shows the victim rolling a marijuana cigarette in the front seat when the youth, who was standing by the boot of the car, called out to him. The boy gets out of the car to join him and the youth then swings an axe into him, accusing him of telling people he had stolen money from his own mother.

David tries to run away but is chased down and forced to lie on the ground. The youth continued to accuse him of spreading rumours, and then struck him on the back of the head with the axe. The sound of the axe striking the victim and the victim’s last breath can be heard in the recording.

One of the other youths, who helped to hide the body, told his father the next day who alerted police.

He claimed he had no idea what was going to happen and feared for his life.

The victim’s father, also called David, said his son was “a character” who was always getting into trouble.

The killer will be sentenced in December.