A 12-year-old boy had to relive his mother’s fatal attack in the Melbourne Magistrates Court this week at the committal hearing for Con Vlahos. It is alleged that Vlahos, 35, murdered the woman – the boy’s mother – at a Preston flat in October last year and then burnt her body.
Under questioning the boy, unnamed for legal reasons, recounted how he pleaded with the man, “I need a mum in my life” before fleeing the murder scene. He said his mother has whispered to him that she loved him and to flee the Preston flat. The young boy told the court that Vlahos had ”slashed” at and punched her after he poured boiling water on her and him.
In the trial, another witness has alleged that Vlahos held a blood-stained knife to the boy’s throat as his mother lay bleeding on a couch.
The unidentified witness, who is said to have been the mother’s lover and a friend of Vlahos, said the woman had a temper and a problem with alcohol and always carried a knife for protection. He said on the day in question, the three had taken cocaine at Vlahos’ Preston flat and an argument escalated between Vlahos and the mother. He alleged Vlahos was in a “rage”, demanding of both “where’s the dope?” before he poured hot water on her and then stabbed her and later stomped on her head.
The boy, who gave evidence from a remote witness facility transmitted to a contested committal hearing for Vlahos, told the defence lawyer Theo Kassimatis that during the fight he screamed “I just want my mum”. He said Vlahos put a knife to his throat then let him go. At this stage the woman told her son she loved him and to flee the flat.
The hearing continues.