EXCLUSIVE
A petty dispute over plumbing repairs and a ban from the local town pool for diving allegedly preceded the death of a beloved grandmother and community stalwart.
On Wednesday, Brian ‘Bert’ Barnes, 67, was charged with the murder of Merril Kelly, 70, whose body was discovered when emergency services were called to a blaze near a cemetery at Quambatook, northwest Victoria, just after 6.30am on Tuesday.
Her body has yet to be formally identified and detectives are having to call in forensic experts to officially confirm it is Ms Kelly ‘due to the circumstances of her death’.
While the police brief of evidence against Barnes will not be completed for weeks, it is understood detectives will focus on Barnes’ history with the elderly woman.
Ms Kelly’s death has shattered the country Victorian town with a population of a little more than 200, where she played a key part throughout her life.
She had spent 27 years on the board of Northern District Community Health until her retirement in 2023 and had maintained a pivotal role in the operation and maintenance of the community swimming pool.
It is within this role Homicide Squad detectives are believed to be focusing their investigation.
With his brightly-coloured toenails – painted in the yellow and blue of Ukraine’s flag – Barnes had been an eccentric character on the landscape of the quiet country town.
Choosing a skateboard as his preferred mode of transport, he was often seen around town flying his remote control helicopter, sometimes at night.
In the week leading up to his arrest, Barnes posted numerous videos to his Instagram account covering all aspects of life, from the mundane to the airing of his grievances.
One video showed him up at dawn filming birds outside his home, which appeared to be well maintained and tidy.
A skateboard could be seen mounted to the wall while there was also a small work desk in the kitchen where he tinkered with his gadgets and drones.
Barnes rated himself as an artist, selling his work through his recently opened Instagram account.
Videos reveal his home is positioned within a stone’s throw of the local police station, and a flag flying out the front has a picture of Earth on it.
Clearly house proud, Barnes posted several videos of both in and outside his Quambatook home.
Since hitting Instagram just 10 weeks ago, Barnes posted anywhere up to 100 items to the page.
Just a few days before his arrest, Barnes ranted in a social media video about a row he had with Ms Kelly over some maintenance he performed for her at the local pool.
Barnes complained that Ms Kelly had underpaid him for the work done.
He revealed in another video that he had since been banned from swimming at the pool after complaints about him diving into it.
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting this was any motive for her alleged murder or in any way connected.
On Thursday, Barnes appeared before the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court which heard police call for a compulsory procedure to extract Barnes’ DNA from the buckle of a belt.
Such procedures are ordinarily routine when someone is charged with murder.
‘In the interest of justice that matter can be dealt with at a later date,’ his lawyer Paul Kidd argued in court.
‘He should know what the basis of that application is made.’
The matter was adjourned to next week when it is expected to held in a closed court.
A police prosecutor told the court detectives needed 24 weeks to compile the hand-up brief of evidence against Barnes, which was refused by the magistrate.
’24 weeks is a long time,’ he said.
Police had hoped for a longer than ordinary time to analyse any evidence that might come from any DNA extracted from Barnes.
The court heard it was Barnes’ first time in custody and he suffered from blood pressure complications.
Mr Kidd made no application for bail and his client was remanded in custody to reappear in court on April 30.
Meanwhile, Quambatook locals continue to mourn in private, determined to protect Ms Kelly’s family from media attention.
The Quambatook Lions Club and the Quambatook Community Development Association have both announced they would be cancelling Sunday’s Australia Day celebrations ‘due to the tragic events’.
According to a social media post, the two groups will ‘assess in the coming weeks how to come together as a community to recognise residents who help make our town special’.
In one of her final tragic online posts, Ms Kelly had made the call out to her local community for help in creating a Christmas dish.
‘Does anyone have some mint they might be able to share?’ she asked. ‘It is for a family traditional dish of carrot and pineapple jelly salad.’
The mint was supplied by the local cafe owner, which has closed its doors alongside much of the town as it struggles to come to terms with their grief over her death.
The swimming pool where Ms Kelly worked has also closed its doors despite the summer heat.
