Tweet Facebook Mail A jury has heard covert recordings of an accused murderer telling an undercover police officer he committed a "crime of passion" by punching a man until he was unconscious. Paul Anthony Quinlan has pleaded not guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court to the murder of Scott Pilton, 48, on May 16, 2020. Pilton died in hospital from acute bleeding on the brain just over a day after he was allegedly fatally wounded by Quinlan, then aged 55, on Lamb Island, north of Brisbane.
READ MORE: Fast fashion giant pulls Australian pop-up event before new tax kicks in Paul Anthony Quinlan pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday to the murder of Scott Pilton in May 2020. (Toby Crockford) The jury on Thursday heard testimony from a senior constable in the Queensland police covert operations unit who spoke to Quinlan after he was arrested. In response to questions from crown prosecutor Michael Lehane, the officer said he impersonated someone who had been arrested and was placed in a cell with Quinlan in the Brisbane Watchhouse on May 16, 2020.
The jury was played a 47-minute audio file that the officer had secretly recorded while pretending to have been arrested for assaulting his female partner over her adultery. Quinlan in the audio said he had punched Pilton a total of six times in the eyes, nose, mouth and cheekbone after catching him in bed with his then-girlfriend and dragging him to her lounge room. "It was a crime of passion, like yours," Quinlan said in .