The Crown v Gerard Baden-Clay, 7th July - Trial Day 15

[Maigret]

Byrne's statement as to why a mother with strong maternal attachment would book a hair appointment that clashed with a parent teacher interview... then suggesting it was to make herself feel better.... is pretty poor and desperate IMO. There is absolutely no evidence that Allison was lapsing into major depression at the time....in fact there is evidence to the contrary.

Well why wouldn't Mr Mom be there at the parent teacher interview - I personally would have liked any excuse not to go after the first couple of years !!

 

[royster]

Thank you tweet posters. Awesome job. Empty all that tripe out of our brains now and get ready for tomorrow. I can't believe someone can talk rot for so long.
Hugs to the girls, the Dickies and all of Allison's loved ones - that would have been tough going. X

 

[FirstTimer]

Why does she need to have begun walking at 6am?

I believe that's the time she usually went for a walk. Apparently

 

[Trooper]

that whole speech by byrne reminded me of the weird story Paul Mulvihill told about how he killed Rachel.. a peculiar tale of how his victim actually fell onto the knife he was wielding in his hand..

Mulvihill is doin life, .........

 

[Total]

Freya and JK you are doing an incredibly job! Thank you so much :loveyou:

Amee and Sleuthy...sorry I did not mean to leave you out...I was just caught up in the moment of the last half hour and thinking how there was no way in the world I could retweet any of that crap without commentary. You all are amazing :loveyou:

 

[Snails]

Finished and reworked my notes from court this morning 10am to 12noon approx-
Defence says-
"Not media event or soap opera for the amusement of the media. It is about EVIDENCE. GBC not violent man. He didn’t become violent when T McH was throwing things at him. It is not about feeling sorry for anyone.
GBC didn’t need to give evidence as he didn’t need to prove anything. Prosecution has to prove guilt. If you have any reasonable doubt you must acquit.
Prosecution case is circumstantial – no direct evidence, no admissions, no eyewitness. Jury cannot guess, speculate or join dots. Jury took an oath to deliver a true verdict and must have evidence to support inference they draw.
Fact - Allison's blood in Captiva does not mean it was the result of GBC transporting her body. There is no evidence.
Blood in car but no blood in carport or around house.
Work through evidence to prove GBC guilty of offence he is charged with -
How did he kill her?
What caused her death?
Violently killed with intent?
How does the Crown prove Allison was violently murdered?
No cause of death or injuries found during autopsy. Jumper moved up on body but couldn't exclude movement in water.
Fully clothed body - everything in place.
Couldn’t exclude body being in water.
No bone fractures.
No fracture of thyroid bone – important when talking about how she was killed – no crushing fracture or bruising.
Possible bruise on left side of rib cage.
No determination or cause of death.
Absence of diatoms doesn’t exclude drowning.
Fall from height couldn’t be excluded.
Couldn’t exclude body being moved by water.
No determination of time or place of death.
Chip on tooth couldn’t be aged.
No sign of trauma to neck.
No mobile teeth means no blunt trauma to face.
Murderous intent is a roadblock as there were no detectable injuries.
NO CAUSE OF DEATH.
Jury to bear that in mind when considering the ultimate verdict.
GBC invited police to house and consented to visual inspection of house and cars. No sign of struggle or damage. No blood.
Police carried out search of house, a visual inspection of house and carport, no blood found.
Then a crime scene warrant taken out. This is a very important tool to assist police investigations. The crime scene warrant remained in place for 7 days. Thoroughly searched property for 7 days. All SES found was a NAB PEN. Police found NO evidence.
No obvious indication of a clean up.
House was very noisy with timber flooring and no insulation or sound proofing.
The three girls were in the house on the night of the 19th April 2012 and heard nothing. Saw mum on couch watching TV. GBC said “be nice to mum” – had headache. Mum wearing sloppy Joe and PJ pants. When interviewed daughter said things were happy at home, no fighting etc. Daughter heard nothing that night. Heard no car noises. Daughter said parents never fight and no fighting on night of Mums disappearance.
Mrs Apps gave evidence regarding daughter screaming that night. Puts sword through evidence of screams and bumps in the night.
The case collapses and becomes incredible as alleged-
- Children did not wake up or here any noises
- Carry body down the embankment at night when police had trouble getting down there during the day
- No mud in captiva
- No injuries to body from being dragged
- No mud in car or on clothing/shoes
You have to be satisfied that there is no possible theory.
Blood in car does not equal a murder scene. Prosecution scenario is not possible."

I had to leave at midday but might go back in the morning.

 

[samanthaj]

4:33pm: Mr Byrne said Mrs Baden-Clay may have left her house in the early hours of April 20, 2012, in a distressed state.

"What if she decided to go for a walk at that time to clear her heard? What if, because of her depression she takes a Zoloft tablet about 10 or 11pm? That might explain her changing into her walking clothes, which she's found in," Mr Byrne said.

"She leaves the house after placing Gerard's phone on the charger about 1.48am. She walks her usual walk along Boscombe Road and then decides to walk a bit further ... she keeps walking.

"Around 4am the drugs would peak in her blood stream, the medication absorbed in the stomach."

Mr Byrne said Mrs Baden-Clay could have been adversely affected by the increased level of the antidepressant Sertraline in her system that could have cause her to hallucinate.

"And at some time and for some reason she ends up in the river," he said.

"The autopsy can't rule out drowning, it can't rule out a possible fall, or jump from the bridge ...

"That's just a scenario, you may reject it, but it's something you might think is open on the evidence ..

"This trial is a murder trial. It's about you being satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that this man here, for no apparent reason, with no apparent means, managed to kill his wife and dispose of her body."


4:35pm: Court has adjourned for the day.

Mr Byrne will continue his closing address to the jury from 10am tomorrow.


Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...y-15-week-5-20140707-3bhb6.html#ixzz36lLHR2jX

 

[Texx]

SO in summing up the summing up we've established what today? Let's see, the defendant allegedly told a few untruths a bit to people bout love, money and...well pretty much everything lets be honest (moo), he still maintains the scratches on his face (moo) are allegedly a shaving faux pas, he didn't have money, then did, but he doesn't, but he does????? the tides on the time lapse footage hold some significance obviously as they were shown ALOT, money is not a valid reason for committing murder and lets not even dignify the last few arguments on the last few pages as worthy of discussion "what kind of mother...." sheesh don't even get me started on that one!!!!

No really, I'd believe him :floor laugh:
Lets go PT, fire up!!!!

 

[Froglady]

What is BBM? I've been wondering for ages lol

 

[Thinking]

Because she was annoyed at the fact they'd screwed up her hair twice already. Duh!

And she was late due to traffic (rang ahead to let them know) - guaranteed to make me stressed every time! Hate being late!

 

[Pastafarian]

Kate Kyriacou @KateKyriacou · 1m
Byrne says they should reject that Gerard, for no apparent reason, with no apparent means, violently killed his wife. #badenclay

So Byrne is admitting he had MOTIVE AND OPPORTUNITY??

The MEANS = smothering!!! FFS

IMO If there were pillows in the house then Gerred certainly had the means

 

[FirstTimer]

She had been to the hairdressers the previous night and needed to meet her friend at 7am. No way she went for a walk.

Exactly. It's just rubbish Defence. More holes thane a colander

 

[Total]

:furious: That's about the limit right there! Byrne actually said that??

I think Byrne has just assured himself of getting very little female clientele in future unless of course appointed through legal aid. I totally understand the role of a defence in a trial but he just went beyond the pale. Are we seriously supposed to consider that 'parent' interviews are a mother only affair? I was so bored after my first parent/teacher interview my husband went for years after that. He also did tuckshop duty as I couldn't stand it. He was also on the after school care committee. What a load of hogwash.....

 

[alioop]

I'm not exactly sure if his closing is complete? That wasn't stated, just that court is adjourned. It seemed to come to a natural sort of end there though....

I was wondering that myself.

I think Michael Byrne has done the best job he could for his client today and we shouldn't bash him for it, though the odd bit of sarcasm wasn't necessary. I didn't think he would take the whole day though. Tomorrow would be well worth going to court if anyone can make it.

 

[toe]

Caroline Overington ‏@overingtonc 54s
The jury is also being reminded that Gerard doesn't have to prove his own innocence #badenclay
The defence is again stressing that Gerard has no idea what happened to Allison #badenclay

If anyone was to commit suicide i'm surprized it wasn't Gerry, with all his deceipt and failings how on earth could he even look at his face in a mirror to shave. What a horrid evil person.

 

[Anonthemouse]

What is BBM? I've been wondering for ages lol

Bolded by me

 

[catswhiskers]

Well wouldn't it be interesting to know how often GBC attended parent teacher interviews over the years? I'm a teacher myself and I can tell you that 9 out of 10 interviews are attended by mothers only (and that's a generous estimate). I can only recall a couple of father-only interviews across my couple of decades teaching, and in those cases they were single dads. Pfft - if anything I'd guess that maybe insisting her husband front up for an interview could have been another indicator of Allison's increasing strength and confidence.
I wonder what GBC's demeanor was like at said interview??
Just had another thought - maybe his attending interviews wasn't out of the ordinary? Maybe because of his profile with the P&C (and dare I say need for control) it was a role he took on happily??

 

[Freya1977]

The defence did not call a botanist.

Meant hydrologist - the one that did the time lapse.

 

[JCB]

Meant hydrologist - the one that did the time lapse.

They did not call a hydrologist either.

 

[MRSA]

I believe that's the time she usually went for a walk. Apparently

But she doesn't usually set out walking to throw herself off a bridge.

With that in mind she could have set off at 4.00am ... 3.00am ... 1.48am ...