Man accused of killing father with sword 'wanted $2.5m in life insurance'

A man is facing trial accused of killing his father to get his hands on $2.5 million in life insurance money.

Michael Phillip Martin faced trial in the Supreme Court at Lismore today, the jury told he orchestrated the home invasion at South Murwillumbah in June 2014.

The 28-year-old also suffered minor injuries, found bound and gagged by a neighbour who he told “my dad is up there, they got my dad, I think he’s dead.”

His dad Michael Anthony Martin had suffered wounds which police believe were caused by a samurai sword.

Mr Martin Jr later claimed he was asleep when he was struck in the head and dragged into the kitchen.

He claimed he heard noises “like a throat being cut” before he managed to slide out of the kitchen and down the stairs.

But Crown Prosecutor Brendan Campbell alleged he made the story up and that he had tried to kill his father in a similar home invasion two months earlier.

He told the jury Martin Jr had delivered a large amount of alcohol to his father that day, “the Crown says to make the deceased less capable of resisting the attack that was coming that night.”

But Mr Martin Sr survived, so the crown says his son plotted the second attack.

In the months before Mr Martin Jr had allegedly taken out “three different life insurance policies for the accidental death of his father … worth $2.5 million.”

But the Crown alleged he also killed his father because he hated him, having suffered years of abuse at his hands.

The Crown conceded the victim was “essentially an alcoholic” who was “abrasive”.

After the alleged murder, police found a letter Mr Martin Jr had allegedly written to his wife which said, “I was a very hurt man and the man who hurt me the most, was the very man who should have loved me the most.”

“Money got tighter and we had another bright idea to free our lives up more.

“Our biggest problem is that we are too good at heart, our guilt has struck from the moment we cooked up the bright idea.”

Mr Martin Jr has pleaded not guilty to three charges, which include murder.