SYDNEY, Oct. 1 -- A former Australian boxing champion allegedly gunned down his stepmother's lover under intense pressure from his father, a New South Wales court was told Monday. Ex-Australian heavyweight champ Dean Aubrey Waters, 34, allegedly admitted killing Allan Henry Hall, 39, in January 1988 because his father, Cec Waters, had pressured him with the imperative that 'something had to be done about Hall.'
Waters is alleged to have admitted in an interview with police earlier this year that he fatally shot Hall Jan. 29, 1988. Dean Waters also claimed that he and his father had dug shallow graves at a nearby forest for his stepmother, Christine Hicks, and Hall, but he had decided at the last minute that he wouldn't kill his stepmother. A statement of Waters' alleged interview with police was tendered to Wyong Local Court on Monday. Waters' attorney, Manny Conditsis, said his client would be defending the charge on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was prepared to plead guilty to manslaughter. A second man, Damon Ashley Cooper, who also trained as a boxer under the guidance of Cec Waters, was also charged with the murder and pleaded innocent. Magistrate Sharon Crews ordered both men to stand trial in the New South Wales Supreme Court in Newcastle. No date has been set for the trial. A murder charge is pending against Cec Waters.
