A young girl has told a trial she believes double murder accused Andrew Innes killed toddler Jellica Burke during a game of hide and seek.
In a recorded interview played to jurors, the primary school-age child said she was playing at the Aberdeen University graduate’s home in Troon Avenue, Dundee.
The girl, who was allegedly abducted, raped and abused by Innes, said: “Andrew pretended that Jellica was hiding – because we were playing hide and seek – but he actually killed her.”
Asked where two-year-old Jellica hid, she said: “I said to Jellica ‘I give up,’ but Jellica wasn’t there.”
The youngster – who cannot be identified – was asked where Innes killed Jellica.
She said: “I don’t know, but I looked in the bathroom and Andrew shut the door on me.
“It hit me in the face.
“I said: ‘Jellica, I give up’.”
Asked if she heard anything, the girl said: “No. Only the birds tweeting.”
The little girl said that she also saw Innes “kill” Jellica’s mum, Bennylyn with a hammer.
She said: “I tried to call the police. I couldn’t speak.”
During the interview, speaking about the deaths of Mrs Burke and Jellica, the little girl said: “I tried to save them but I couldn’t because I didn’t know what was happening.”
Denies murder
At the High Court in Edinburgh, Innes is accused of murdering Jellica and Mrs Burke, 25, at some point between February 20 and March 5 2021.
He is further accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by, among other acts, wrapping their bodies in rubble bags and hiding them in concrete under his kitchen floor.
It is alleged he abducted, assaulted, sexually assaulted and raped the other child at his Troon Avenue home.
Innes denies all charges.
His lawyers have lodged a special defence in relation to the murder allegations, that he acted with diminished responsibility.
Girl describes ‘jobs’
In the video of the pre-recorded evidence – made in May 2021 – the little girl could be seen to smiling and laughing and using felt tip pens to draw pictures.
At one point, during a break in the interview, she hid behind a door and jumped out in front of the interviewer, causing the woman to laugh.
The girl spoke about “jobs” she did to Andrew in exchange for money.
The interviewer also gave the little girl two small pieces of paper which were shaped like human bodies.
She was told by the interviewer that one of the bodies was “Andrew” and that she should use a felt tip pen to “give Andrew eyes” and “some hair”.
The little girl then described performing acts to Andrew’s body.
When asked to point to where on the paper Andrew, that she performed the act, she pointed to the genitals area.
She said he poured oil on her, taped a sock over her mouth and held her hands behind her using handcuffs.
“I felt terrible,” she said.
The girl said when Innes left her, he “put a rope on the door and attached it to another door,” so that it could not open.
The court heard the child had tested positive for chlamydia.
A joint minute of established facts, read to jurors at the start of the trial, stated: “The finding that both the crown witness (child) and the accused were found to have the same sexually transmitted infection strongly supports sexual contact… but cannot alone prove that the accused was the actual source of her infection”.
The trial before judge Lord Beckett continues.
Day one of the Troon Avenue murder trial
For the evidence heard at the trial on day one, click the links below:
- The joint minute of agreed facts including Innes’ admission he killed Mrs Burke and her daughter.
- Police said Innes confessed his crime and Mrs Burke’s husband spoke of his fears when she disappeared.
- The young alleged rape victim told how she saw Innes hit Mrs Burke with a hammer.