Vic drug dealer murder still a mystery

A Melbourne court is trying to establish how a young drug dealer known as an 'easygoing, happy-go-lucky guy who wouldn't hurt anyone' was killed and incinerated in his car five years ago.

James Russouw was 24 when someone slit his throat, doused his body with petrol and set it alight in his four-wheel drive late at night at a sporting reserve in Melbourne's east.

The Victorian Coroners Court heard on Monday that James had been a long-time cannabis smoker who sold the drug for several years in Melbourne's eastern suburbs of Burwood and Vermont.

Popular, with 'a number of close friends', James was well liked and 'commonly described as an easygoing, happy-go-lucky guy who wouldn't hurt anyone', the court heard.

His brother Craig said he had asked James several times to stop dealing drugs because he was concerned about his welfare.

'I thought it was dangerous and unethical and not moral,' Mr Russouw told the court.

He said that until the day of his death in March 2008, when James told him he was going to 'score' some marijuana, he believed his brother had stopped drug dealing.

Later that night, James left his brother's house about 10.30pm to visit a friend.

On the way, he received a call on his mobile phone, picked up an unknown passenger and drove to Burwood East Reserve, where someone cut his throat with a kitchen knife.

A witness told the court on Monday he had seen a green Ford Falcon sports model sedan leaving the reserve seconds before Mr Russouw's 4WD exploded into flame.

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Vic drug dealer murder still a mystery