Three men charged with murder after dismembered remains were pulled from a Melbourne river allegedly discussed cooking and eating the body.
A witness told Melbourne Magistrates court Edward "Nippy" Hill, 46, told him he had killed Brendan David Bernard, 32, whose severed forearm was found in the Maribyrnong River on February 5.
Hill said he hit Mr Bernard four times before his co-accused Con Spaliaras, 31 and Matthew David Brennan, 36, cut up the body, according to the witness statement tendered in court.
The witness, who can't be named, asked if Brennan had eaten the body, his statement says.
"Nippy said that `he' was talking about cooking it up for a roast and when he cut the bone, he was like `that'd make a nice roast'," the witness said in his statement.
"Nippy said he told them he wouldn't be eating it, and it was sick."
Mr Bernard died on January 27 in the flat he shared with Brennan in the same block where Hill and Spaliaras also lived, the court heard.
Another witness, who can only be referred to as KJ, told the court on the day Mr Bernard died he was given cash to buy drugs but returned after several hours with only $40 and no drugs.
She was at the flat when the three co-accused started beating Mr Brendan, who she called `B'.
"B was crying the whole time. He kept asking them to stop. They were all yelling and they kept saying 'you were warned'," KJ said in her statement.
She said Brennan grabbed a cushion and put it over Mr Bernard's face, then the three co-accused dragged him into the bathroom.
She thinks B was crying but it wasn't for long.
KJ later went into the bathroom and saw Mr Bernard in the bath with a rope around his neck, she told the court.
In her tendered statement she said Spaliaras later told her they cut the body.
"It was like he was proud of himself. He said it looked good enough to eat," KJ said in her statement.
"He said he considered eating it, if it hadn't been sitting there so long."
The hearing continues before Magistrate Meagan Keogh.
