Court hears details of Jaymes Todd’s brutal murder of the 22-year-old aspiring comedian in Princes Park in 2018

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The man who killed Eurydice Dixon in a central Melbourne park stalked her for 5km before choking her for up to 10 minutes, a court has heard.

Jaymes Todd pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Dixon in November.

Now 20, Todd appeared in the supreme court of Victoria for a pre-sentence plea hearing on Thursday, where details of his life and the brutal way he murdered Dixon in Princes Park in June 2018 were heard for the first time.

The court was told Todd, who has autism, spotted Dixon at Flinders Street Station after he had spent the afternoon drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis. He then stalked her for almost an hour, covering 5km.Records showed Todd had a history of internet searches for rape, strangulation and snuff material, and “emo girls”.

Dixon, a 22-year-old aspiring comedian, had been performing at the Highlander Bar and was making her way home where she lived with her father and brother – her mother had died when she was seven.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jaymes Todd is led into the Victorian supreme court on Thursday. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

She sent a text to her boyfriend, saying: “I’m nearly home. HBU?”

But as she crossed football pitches, Todd grabbed her from behind and knocked her to the ground, the court heard.

She fought back, scratching at his face. He tore at her clothes and sexually assaulted her.

He then choked her, in his words, for “maybe five or 10 minutes”.

Leaving Dixon lying in the park, Todd scrolled through her mobile phone for 10 minutes, using the camera to examine the scratches on his face, before falling asleep on a bench at Royal Park Station.

At 2.50am on 13 June, a passerby found Dixon’s cold body, called triple-O and attempted CPR.

Todd claimed that after the attack he defecated on a track before walking again through Princes Park, where he was directed away by police who had established a crime scene.

Todd handed himself in to police later that day after friends told him his “face was all over the news”.

He initially denied being Dixon’s killer but later admitted his guilt after hearing DNA testing was under way.

Defence barrister Tim Marsh said Todd was sexually attracted to Dixon, fitting a certain look he found appealing, but argued the Broadmeadows man did not plan to murder her until the moment of the attack.

The hearing before Justice Stephen Kaye continues on Thursday and Friday.