Witness breaks down in casino death case

A witness has broken down in court as she described the look on a man’s face before he died at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.

Barbara Walker said she saw an emotionless look on Anthony Dunning’s face shortly before he was involved in an altercation with security guards in July last year.

“It was a look on his face that I will never forget … emotionless,” she said.

The court was adjourned for a short time while Ms Walker composed herself.

In a witness statement tendered in the Melbourne Magistrates Court, Ms Walker said she was sitting playing a poker machine when she heard a commotion behind her.

She turned and saw a man being held by two guards.

“I looked at the male and saw that the guards were each holding an arm and the male was shuffling on the spot but wasn’t really struggling,” Ms Walker said.

“He couldn’t really move as they were holding him on either side.

“I wondered why the male was being held as he looked so normal.”

Then all of a sudden the man “dropped down or disappeared”, she said.

Mr Dunning, 40, died after allegedly being thrown to the ground and held by the neck by a bouncer.

Matthew Lawson, 27, of Hoppers Crossing, is facing a committal hearing charged with Mr Dunning’s manslaughter.

Five other Crown security staff – Quoc Hai Tran, 34, Jacques Tony Fucile, 30, Nicholas Vladamir Levchenko, 26, Cameron Paul Sanderson, 40, and Benjamin Michael Vigo, 24 – are facing lesser charges over the alleged assault on Mr Dunning or an incident involving two of his friends.

The hearing continues on Thursday.

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