Kirkstall triple death: Men ‘ambushed’ on country road, victim’s partner says

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This was published 1 year ago

Kirkstall triple death: Men ‘ambushed’ on country road, victim’s partner says

By Jackson Graham
Updated

Two men shot dead on a country road in south-west Victoria were “ambushed” as they were walking to a nearby town to run errands, according to the partner of one of the victims.

Kevin Knowles, 49, and another 50-year-old man were shot dead at about 10.20am on Friday about one kilometre from Knowles’ home in Kirkstall, north-west of Warrnambool.

Kevin Knowles was among two shot dead in Kirkstall on Friday. He is pictured arriving at the Coroners Court in June 2019.

Kevin Knowles was among two shot dead in Kirkstall on Friday. He is pictured arriving at the Coroners Court in June 2019.Credit: Joe Armao

Soon after the bodies were discovered, police began searching for a van, but that search was abandoned when a third man was found dead.

The body of Travis Cashmore, 45, who is believed to have taken his own life after allegedly shooting Knowles and his companion, was found at a Chamberlain Street address in Kirkstall.

Police said the men were known to each other and investigators were not looking for anyone else in connection to the shootings.

Tracey Leske, Knowles’ partner for the past five years, said she was shocked and believed the two men were “ambushed” while walking to the nearby town of Koroit.

She said Knowles and Cashmore “indirectly” had disagreements in the past that were never confrontational, and Cashmore had occasionally given Knowles a lift into Koroit.

“There was never an altercation big enough to warrant this,” Leske said. “I don’t know what answers are going to come out of this because I believe strongly there hasn’t been any reason for this person to have done this.”

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She remembered Knowles, a father of four, as devoted to his grandson and believed she had seen Knowles at his best in recent years.

“He was wanting to devote more time to his family as we were getting older,” Leske said. “Kevin had really turned a lot of corners in the last five years. We are all struggling with the idea that this has even happened.”

Superintendent Martin Hardy said police were looking at a number of lines of inquiry, one being the possibility of an ongoing dispute between those involved.

“There are a number of things we are looking at, that would be one of them. It’s a matter of collating all the evidence from the witnesses,” Hardy said.

“If there’s anyone who hasn’t been spoken to by police we would ask [them to] please come forward and provide any information they can.”

Nearby residents said they were unaware of any arguments between those involved.

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Kirkstall resident Ian Williams, who lives on Chamberlain Street next door to Cashmore’s property, told Nine News he had heard noises in the street that sounded like a tree falling on a shed before learning of the shootings.

He said Cashmore had lived on Chamberlain Street for 15 years and the two neighbours had spoken about their hobbies.

“We talked motorbikes … he made his own biofuel and lived very much that alternate lifestyle. He’s got a beautiful car in the shed, he had an old truck he is doing up, he’s got a couple of sheep in the back paddock,” Williams said.

“We never ever had cross words; we would talk over the fence about pets and stuff he was doing … he’s a lovely guy.

“I don’t know what to think of it. I don’t know what could have possibly driven him to do that.”

Hardy said Knowles was well known to police. He said the three deaths were “certainly unusual” for Kirkstall, a small town surrounded by farmland.

“We don’t believe there is any risk to the safety of the community anymore,” he said.

Knowles and his ex-girlfriend, Amanda Bourke, were questioned over the death Stephen Johnston after the 57-year-old’s badly beaten body was found on the floor of his Warrnambool home on December 8, 2016, but no charges were ever laid.

Bourke later drowned while swimming with Knowles at a Killarney beach, between Port Fairy and Warrnambool, and her death was deemed non-suspicious.

Coroner Simon McGregor found in 2020 that Knowles was responsible for the injuries and neglect that caused Johnston’s death. He referred the suspected murder to the director of public prosecutions to consider charges against Knowles.

Lifeline 131 114.

With Erin Pearson

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