Grandmother bludgeoned, set alight after refusing to bake cake for alleged killer, court told

A 70-year-old grandmother was tied up, bludgeoned in her own bed and her body set on fire by a man after she refused to bake him a cake or pay him for volunteer work, a court has been told.

Merril Kelly was a pillar of her community, a devoted volunteer and a grandmother of two. Her charred body was discovered outside the cemetery on the outskirts of the tiny Victorian town of Quambatook in the summer of 2025.

In the Supreme Court sitting at Bendigo on Wednesday, the court heard her alleged killer Brian Barnes, 68, developed a desire to kill following a dispute over plumbing works at a volunteer-run public swimming pool in Quambatook, about 300 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.

Crown prosecutor Patrick Bourke told the jury that this culminated on January 21, 2025, when Barnes allegedly sneaked into Kelly’s Quambatook home in the middle of the night and attacked her in her bed, before dragging her from her house, cable tying her body and placing her into the back of his grey Ford ute.

Barnes, known as Bert around town, was arrested in Welshmans Reef, 180 kilometres from the crime scene. He has pleaded not guilty to murder.

During the first day of the trial on Wednesday, Bourke said Kelly had lived with her husband, whom she cared for, but they slept in separate rooms in 2025 as he suffered from late-stage dementia.

Kelly was an active member of the community and member of various community groups, including the resource centre, which managed local projects, and the memorial swimming pool across from her home.

Barnes lived about 450 metres away on Guthrie Street.

The court heard that in November 2024, Barnes was involved at a working bee at the pool and later fixed a plumbing leak, with Kelly’s permission.

Text messages showed Kelly telling him the work would be unpaid, with Barnes later replying “you have to pay me with cake”.

“Cake is in short supply at my place, not much time to do anything else,” the 70-year-old replied.

Barnes was offered $200 and a handwritten note as a thank-you for his repairs.

But Bourke alleged Barnes later returned the money and demanded to instead be paid $2000.

By January 2025, Barnes began contacting lawyers, with Kelly telling her daughter she did not want a confrontation and was worried about what people would think about her because of the dispute.

Barnes then posted videos on social media, Bourke said, about “a little old woman named Merril” before he was banned from the pool over a confrontation with another woman.

On January 21, 2025 at 1.42am, the Crown alleged Barnes drove to Kelly’s house, entered through an unlocked back door and assaulted her in bed, with bloodstains found throughout the room.

Bourke alleged the accused then dragged Kelly out the back door, down a brick-paved path, along a gravel driveway and into the back of his ute, leaving behind one of his blue-painted toenails.

“He tied her hands in front of her body using black cable ties and drove out to the Quambatook cemetery … and put her on the ground,” Bourke told the jury.

The court heard Barnes later told his brother that at the cemetery, he asked Kelly why she hadn’t paid him. When she failed to respond, he poured petrol over her and set her on fire.

The local CFA later found her remains about 5am.

Bourke told the court the accused man later drove to his brother’s house and told him the killing was premeditated and part of a foolproof plan, before he drove away when told he could not stay there.

“I prepared it, got what I needed. She deserved it. She had to go,” Barnes allegedly said.

In his opening address to the jury, Bourke said the accused man later texted his brother to say he planned to “go dark” until his name was cleared. Barnes was arrested hours later and charged with murder.

Kelly’s autopsy found her cause of death to be head injuries with skull and jaw fractures, and bleeding on the brain. A cable tie was found around her neck.

Forensic evidence suggested Kelly might have already been dead when she was set on fire 4.5 kilometres from her home, Bourke said.

Quambatook is a small Mallee farming town on the Avoca River, about 300 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, with a population of about 200.

In the front row of the court on Wednesday were Kelly’s daughter Rosalie and son Will, who became a paraplegic following a car accident as a teenager.

The trial continues.

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