A man who died after paying a fruit picker to hack off his leg with a circular saw sought out the brutal amateur surgery as he was suffering with crippling diabetes, police will allege in court.
Locals in Innisfail, a town of 10,000 people south of Cairns in North Queensland, woke on Saturday morning to find the 66-year-old man dead outside a fish and chip shop.
Police have charged banana-picker John Yalu, 36, with the unnamed man’s alleged murder – who detectives believe injected himself with a sedative beforehand – and are investigating whether he was offered $5,000 to saw off the man’s leg.
Yalu arrived in Australia from Vanuatu last year and regularly sends money from his fruit picking job home to his young family.
Detective Acting Inspector Gary Hunter, who is heading the police investigation, told Daily Mail Australia that the unnamed alleged victim had previously asked around for someone to amputate his leg, but had been knocked back.
Police allege John Yalu, 36, (pictured) a fruit picker, amputated the older man’s lower leg in parklands
Pictured: A car park sitting along the banks of Innisfail’s Johnstone River, near where police believe the alleged amputation took place
Detective Acting Inspector Gary Hunter (pictured) is leading an investigation into the alleged amputation death of a man in Innisfail, North Queensland, on Saturday
It is understood the alleged victim had diabetes and was agitated about the state of his leg, with foot complications relatively common among those living with the condition.
People with diabetes have a much higher risk of lower limb amputation, often due to wounds or ulcers that don’t heal.
Multiple local residents told Daily Mail Australia the suffering man had asked a doctor to amputate his leg, but no medical professional would agree to do the procedure.
Police will allege the 66-year-old alleged victim then brought his own battery-operated table saw to the banks of Innisfail’s Johnstone River around 3am last Saturday and then injected himself with a sedative.
Then, Yalu, a summer fruit picker who arrived in Australia from Vanuatu last year, took up the saw and severed the man’s left leg below the knee, police will allege in court.
Police then alleged Yalu helped the man back to his car and fled from the scene.
Pictured: The Innisfail fish and chip shop where the man was allegedly found dead on Saturday
Police believe the alleged victim got out of his car and slumped into the gutter next to the Innisfail Seafood shop (pictured, the area around the cafe)
It is then believed Yalu returned to his nearby boarding house – the Innisfail Accommodation hub for Non-Resident Workers – which overlooks the river bank, according to investigators.
Police believe the amputated man then pulled himself out of his vehicle before slumping into the gutter next to the Innisfail Seafood shop.
Two brothers aged in their 20s found him there and called police, with paramedics unable to save his life.
Inspector Hunter said there was ‘really good CCTV’ footage from Innisfail taken early last Saturday morning which is assisting with his investigation.
The dead man is a father who lived but did not work in Innisfail and Inspector Hunter said his family were in complete shock.
Police believe the deceased man paid the 36-year-old (pictured) $5,000 to perform the amputation
Police will allege the man had diabetes and had asked Yalu to cut off his leg after several failed attempts to have his limb amputated (pictured, the local police headquarters)
Inspector Hunter arrived on the scene from Cairns around 5am, when he said junior officers were still dealing with ‘the very confronting scene’ out the fish and chip shop, saying there was ‘lots of blood’.
Although Insp Hunter could confirm ‘the two men knew each other’, he said investigators were still trying to discover ‘the extent of their relationship’.
He said despite reports of an alleged $5,000 payment by the man to Yalu, police were still ‘trying to establish whether cash was exchanged’.
Police said ‘no screams’ had been heard from the scene of the alleged amputation and the area ‘had been very quiet’.
Yalu is understood to have been residing at the Innisfail Accommodation hub for Non-Resident Workers (pictured)
Yalu (pictured) remains in police custody after he was refused bail earlier in the week
Inspector Hunter said the dead man was not originally from Queensland and had lived in different states before coming to Innnifail.
The alleged victim’s body, car and circular saw are still under examination by forensic officers.
Yalu was still in police cells on Tuesday after he was refused bail earlier in the week.
He is expected to be transferred soon to a correctional centre while on remand until his next court appearance in May.
One local business proprietor said Yalu was a ‘nice young man who regularly sent money home to his wife and children’ back in Vanuatu.
Police are seen in Innisfail after the man’s body was found outside a fish and chip shop
Investigations by detectives from Innisfail, Cairns, Mareeba and Tully are being co-ordinated under an operation named Uniform Cremini.
Yalu left his young family behind in Vanuatu to do farm work in Australia in June last year.
His social media account is littered with pictures of his young children in his native country.
Fellow farm workers and countrymen who lived with the Vanuatu national at the Rankin St property said they were ‘shocked’ by his arrest.
They said he flew to Australia on the same plane in June last year, with the group quarantining together before moving into the non-resident accommodation centre.
Yalu (pictured) left a young family behind in Vanuatu to travel to Australia to work as a fruit picker last June
