Three teenage boys were arrested over the death of Canberra auctioneer and real estate sales consultant Peter Keeley at Broulee last year. Photo: NSW Police.
A second teenage boy charged with the murder of Canberra man Peter Keeley in a small beachside town on the South Coast has been committed to stand trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
Three boys, all aged 17 at the time of their arrests, were charged with killing the 56-year-old auctioneer and real estate sales consultant on 2 February 2020 after his body was found in bushland at Broulee.
Last October, the first of the teens was committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court.
On Monday (1 March), the other two appeared before the Batemans Bay Children’s Court and Magistrate Doug Dick committed a second boy to stand trial in the Supreme Court.
Both the first and second of the boys will appear in the higher court on Friday (5 March), with their matters listed for arraignment (a formal reading of the charges against them).
The third boy is still facing the Children’s Court and will appear there again later this month.
All three have been refused bail and are yet to enter pleas.
In February 2020, NSW Police said Mr Keeley was found in bushland near McNee Street at Broulee and, while a post mortem examination conducted on his body was inconclusive, he had suffered head and facial injuries.
That month, Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said initial inquiries suggested Mr Keeley had made arrangements to meet up with a person he had connected with through an online dating app.
Mr Keeley travelled by car from Canberra to Batemans Bay on the morning of 2 February and police believed Mr Keeley may have been communicating with one of the 17-year-olds via the dating app Grindr.
“There’s a number of dating apps that were used, and one of those dating apps was Grindr,” Detective Superintendent Doherty said at the time.
“There’s a number of motives that I can’t talk about. We have to look at other considerations, such as whether it’s drug-related, robbery-related or whether it’s some type of hate crime.”
The teenagers were not known to police before they were arrested on suspicion of murder.
Daily Digest
Original Article published by Albert McKnight on The RiotACT.
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