Man accused of killing ex-girlfriend told witness he 'hated her'

The trial is underway for a man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend on a North Queensland street four years ago.

Mackay woman Shandee Blackburn was brutally stabbed to death and robbed while walking home from work.

It was just after midnight when the 23-year-old woman was only metres from her front door, but she never made it home.

She was stabbed at least 22 times and robbed, then left for dead – just some of the gruesome details that Ms Blackburn's mother heard in court.

The defence say there is not a shred of evidence showing that John Peros killed his former lover.

The court heard how her former boyfriend had written a list after the pair had split. The list allegedly contained thirty things he did not like about his ex.

The list allegedly said that she could not be trusted, that she was flirtatious and had denied him sex.

But Mr Peros' defence claimed the circumstances of that list would become clearer in due course.

"There is not a shred of evidence that directly proves… Mr Peros had anything to do with this killing," the defence said.

"The defence case is simple, he didn't do it."

But a witness recalled a conversation she had with Mr Peros just weeks before Ms Blackburn's death.

"He said that he hated Shandee," she told the jury, adding "he had said he thought that she would be better off dead."

But the witness also conceded she was drunk at the time.

Ms Blackburn's murder rocked the North Queensland community.

Her accused killer's trial is expected to run for about two weeks.

Today's top news stories - March 23