Man set housemate alight over drug-induced belief he raped his niece, court told

“Mr Graveson emerged from his house on fire, the hair on his head and beard was scorched. His clothing was either burning, or burnt off him. His skin was peeling off him.”

Graveson’s family lived in neighbouring properties. He made it to his sister’s home, where his brother-in-law hosed him down.

“Mr Graveson then sat down on the concrete and, despite the excruciating pain he must have been in, lucidly told his family that when he was asleep in bed, the defendant had poured petrol on him and lit him up,” Marco said.

Graveson died three days later in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. He had burns to 80 per cent of his body.

Edgerley fled and flagged down a woman parked in her car on the side of the road. He got in and asked her to take him to hospital, which she did.

When the driver asked about his burns, he said he was “filling up a blower or whipper snipper with petrol, lit a cigarette and the whole thing went up”.

The court also heard Edgerley had a tendency to claim he was a member of the British royal family when intoxicated by drugs.

“The defendant made a comment about being a member of the royal family and used his telephone to purportedly call the Queen, which he told them was his grandmother,” Marco said.

Edgerley repeated the same claim at hospital immediately after killing Graveson. He was arrested by police a short time later and charged.

Marco asked the jury to find Edgerley guilty of Graveson’s murder.

“Mr Edgerley committed this unspeakable act of violence against the deceased because he was intoxicated by methylamphetamine, which he had taken voluntarily,” Marco said.

“The effect of the drug acted on his mind to cause him to believe irrational thoughts, including that the deceased had raped his niece, who lived in America.”

The trial continues.