Steven Johnson's trial has begun in the Victorian Supreme Court.
A man accused of murdering his tenant over $2,000 in rent arrears more than 20 years ago is facing trial in the Supreme Court.
The jury was told Mr Johnson was Mr Jarvis's landlord and that the pair were in dispute over $2,000 in rent arrears.
The jury was told Mr Johnson was charged with murder in 2022, but the charge was discontinued only to be reinstated in 2025.
4 sentences from our version of the report,
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How
Summarized version
Mr Johnson faces a single murder charge about the disappearance of Warrnambool man Christopher Jarvis in 2006. Steven Johnson has pleaded not guilty to one charge of murder, about the disappearance of 38-year-old Christopher Jarvis near Warrnambool.
Headline check
There is nothing in this headline a machine can check against the report: no figure, no name and no quotation.
Steven Johnson's trial has begun in the Victorian Supreme Court.
Mr Johnson faces a single murder charge about the disappearance of Warrnambool man Christopher Jarvis in 2006.
Mr Jarvis's disappearance was filed as a missing person's case until police began a new investigation into his disappearance in 2021.
A man accused of murdering his tenant over $2,000 in rent arrears more than 20 years ago is facing trial in the Supreme Court.
Mr Jarvis went missing from his Wangoom home on June 13, 2006.
His burnt-out car was found at the regional city's popular coastal lookout, Thunder Point, later that day.
During the trial opening on Wednesday in Victoria's Supreme Court sitting at Warrnambool, Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson KC told the jury Mr Jarvis left for work on the morning of his disappearance, and has not been heard from since.
The jury was told Mr Johnson was Mr Jarvis's landlord and that the pair were in dispute over $2,000 in rent arrears.
Mr Gibson told the jury Mr Jarvis said he had completed plumbing work at the property and wanted that cost deducted from the rent he owed.
The court heard that the prosecution's case was that Mr Johnson wanted to scare Mr Jarvis into paying the rent owed and vacating the house, and recruited another man to help.
The jury was told Mr Johnson was charged with murder in 2022, but the charge was discontinued only to be reinstated in 2025.
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ABC NewsCold case trial told tenant was murdered over $2k in rent arrearsplain
The West AustralianLandlord denies cold case murder of tenant over rentplain
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