Man charged with murder after neighbour, 82, found in 'pool of blood'
A suburban community is in disbelief after a man was charged with the alleged murder of his 82-year-old neighbour.
The elderly man, a cancer patient, was found in a pool of blood six days ago inside his Barron Way home in Orelia, in Perth’s south.
The house is now a crime scene, with a police forensic team gathering evidence and detectives knocking on doors to find out what happened.
The victim is Allan Tom Pederson, whose friend Margaret King arrived at his Bethanie Housing unit last Wednesday to take him to an eye appointment.
When she couldn’t get inside his unit, she walked around the back, looked inside, and saw the man lying on the floor.
“His head was near the front door, there was a lot of blood,” Ms King told Seven News.
“It wasn’t very nice.”
Mr Pederson was taken to hospital but died later that night.
On Tuesday his neighbour, 59-year-old Andrew Dalton, faced court accused of murder.
He did not enter a plea and remains behind bars.
Neighbours told Seven News that Mr Pederson, a retired ship cook, moved to Perth from Europe more than a decade ago.
They said he had recently become frail and had a number of issues, including prostate cancer.
“He wouldn’t have been that steady on his feet, he’d probably get knocked down with a feather actually,” neighbour Susan Street said.
“I will miss him, think I’ll be moving on actually, I don’t feel safe here,” she added.
“I really don’t feel safe anymore.”
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