He lived alone at the back of Strathmerton post office and enjoyed the company late in the evening.
But his visit on August 8, 2021 would be his last.
The 73-year-old was hit in the head with a one-litre bottle and then kicked on a hard-tiled floor by Troy Matthew Maskell, whose girlfriend had taken offence to Mr Burke speaking to a child.
The postmaster died in hospital 11 weeks later.
Mr Maskell, 44, then of Numurkah, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and is currently facing a trial by jury at the Supreme Court.
On the first day of the trial last last week, the court heard when Mr Maskell’s girlfriend and their daughter walked into the servo, after midnight on August 8, Mr Burke smiled and asked how they were.
“Really good,” the 10-year-old girl replied, before her mother got upset at this.
The situation, which was captured on CCTV, quickly escalated and the woman became aggressive towards Mr Burke, erratically hurling abuse at him.
She told Mr Burke “I’ll rape you” as Mr Maskell walked into the shop.
“Do we have a problem?” Mr Maskell asked Mr Burke, who was trying to stand a distance away from the couple.
The prosecutor told the court the accused killer picked up a one-litre bottle of red sports drink and hurled it at Mr Burke’s head, causing his glasses to fall off.
Mr Maskell then kicked Mr Burke’s left hip and he fell to the tiled floor.
He stomped on Mr Burke’s glasses, walked off and then returned again to kick the man while he lay on the floor.
Mr Maskell stood over Mr Burke and berated him until he was pushed away by his girlfriend’s son, who asked the service station attendant where he kept the CCTV cameras.
The family drove off after the attendant said he did not know.
Mr Burke remained conscious as he lay on the floor in pain, bleeding from his ear, until paramedics arrived and he was taken to Goulburn Valley Health in Shepparton.
He was then urgently transported to Royal Melbourne Hospital, where doctors found he had developed blood clots on his brain.
He died on October 28 from a brain injury.
Mr Maskell told police the night was “pretty blurry”, as he had consumed a box of Carlton Dry and Jack Daniels shots earlier that evening.
Prosecutor Stephanie Clancy told the jury of 13 it was alleged Mr Maskell caused Mr Burke’s death by throwing the bottle of drink “with force” at his head and kicking him to the tiled ground.
However, Mr Maskell’s barrister Julia Munster said her client was not responsible for the death and his acts were “not objectively dangerous”.
“His actions, while shameful, stupid and unlawful … did not cause Mr Burke’s death,” she said.
She told jurors they would hear “complex medical evidence” in the trial about Mr Burke’s hospital treatment and health conditions, and urged them not to allow emotions to cloud their judgment.
The trial before Justice Lex Lasry continues.
– with AAP
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