Carl’s killer expected longer jail stay


AAP

The man accused of murdering underworld assassin Carl Williams wrote to a friend the day before the killing, telling him he had to “keep things in good order”, a court has heard.

Matthew Charles Johnson has pleaded not guilty to murdering Williams on April 19, 2010, in the high-security unit they shared in Barwon Prison, claiming he acted in self-defence when he bashed him to death with a metal pole.

In his note, Johnson says he hopes his friend will be able to go home soon but doubts the same will apply to him.

“As for myself, I think that now I’ll have to hang around for a while longer,” Johnson wrote.

“It doesn’t matter but, because I love this shit.

“I’m the true general so I must keep things in good order.”

On the day he wrote the letter, Johnson was told by another inmate, Tommy Ivanovic, that Williams intended to kill him.

The next day he took the seat post from a prison exercise bike, walked up behind Williams and struck him eight times to the head with it.

The letter was one of 17 intercepted by prison authorities and tendered in evidence in Johnson’s Supreme Court murder trial on Tuesday.

In another letter dated two weeks earlier he warned a woman he describes as “Cuz” that he was about to become the subject of media attention.

“Cuz, there will be some media attention soon,” Johnson wrote to Sheree Newman.

“I just don’t want you to worry, so I’m giving you the heads up.

“I’ll be sweet, so don’t stress about (me).”

The letter doesn’t give any clue to what the media attention will be and Johnson is yet to give evidence in relation to it.

Another letter written by jailed Hells Angel Christopher Hudson, to Matty “Hot Pies” Johnson, discusses the performance of the Collingwood AFL team of which Johnson is a passionate supporter.

It also contains the cryptic comment: “The Villains are killing it and the Heroes are self-destructing.”

It is signed “Huddo, Hells Angels MC”.

In a letter to his “one true girlfriend”, Kellie Abbott, Johnson comments on the outcome of a committal hearing concerning a woman apparently known to both of them, although no names are mentioned.

“I’m sure that old dragon is spewing she got committed to stand trial,” Johnson wrote.

In the same letter he makes an insightful observation about life behind bars and how it relates to some of Melbourne’s gangland criminals.

“All these so-called underworld gangsters are full of themselves and get a huge shock when they realise they’re all just bare bums in the shower here,” he wrote.

Among the other recipients is Ivanovic, who shared the Barwon Prison unit with Johnson and Williams at the time of the latter’s death.

While Ivanovic was in another prison unit, he and Johnson traded several letters in which they talk about looking forward to being together again and of their loyalty and fondness for each other.

Great emphasis is placed on the bond between criminals, with such phrases as “loyalty, strength, honour”, “your loyal friend till they kill me” and “your brother from another mother” liberally quoted throughout the letters.

In a letter to Ivanovic 10 days after Williams’ death, Johnson offers encouragement to his mate who was present as Williams was killed.

“Stay strong, my friend,” he writes.

“I’m sure soon enough they will see you had nothing to do with what happened.”

The trial before Justice Lex Lasry continues on Wednesday.

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