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VANESSA LAURIE/Stuff
Jodie Hughes is defending two charges related to the death of Jacob Ramsay at a South Taranaki farm in July 2022.
Evidence from the owner of the South Taranaki farm which became the scene of a grisly murder last year marked the start of the second week of evidence in the trial of a young mother accused of playing a role in the killing.
On August 14, Jodie Shannon Hughes’ trial began in the High Court at New Plymouth, where she is defending charges of murdering Jacob Ramsay in July 2022, and causing him grievous bodily harm.
Ramsay, 33, was the victim of a prolonged, violent assault at the hands of Hughes’ alleged accomplices, William Candy and Ethan Webster, before his badly beaten body was dumped in a rubbish pit at an Upper Kina Rd farm in Oaonui.
Candy and Webster previously pleaded guilty to the murder and are currently in prison.
While the Crown allege Hughes played an active role in the killing, including stopping attempts to interrupt the violent assault, she has denied this, with her defence based on the claim the murder plot was hatched by a group of male farmworkers, something the mother-of-two knew nothing about.
On Monday, which marked the start of the trial’s second week, the Upper Kina Rd farm owner Francis Mullan, who was the boss of Candy, Webster and Ramsay, gave evidence.
He recalled how on the night of the July 29 murder, he had been made aware of some “drama” at the property which he was told related to a drug debt.
NZ Police/Supplied
The body of Jacob Ramsay, 33, was found two days after he suffered his fatal injuries. (FIle photo)
Mullan told Crown prosecutor Cherie Clarke he had heard Ramsay and Webster were using methamphetamine.
The farm owner, who oversees a staff of about 20, said he understood there had been nothing more than a “scrap” involving Candy, Webster and Ramsay, and that it was not his usual practice to involve himself in worker disagreements.
Under cross-examination by Hughes’ lawyer Tiffany Cooper KC, Mullan said he did not recall hearing any previous conversation between his staff about giving Ramsay “a bit of a crack” but added he never thought Candy and Webster would be capable of doing what they did.
Another witness, who can’t be named, recalled how she was directly told by someone who witnessed the duo’s attack on Ramsay, that he had been “whacked” around the head by Hughes when he tried to stop it.
VANESSA LAURIE/Stuff
A forensic scientist who completed a scene examination at the Upper Kina Rd farm in South Taranaki found a blood trail along a tanker track which led to the rubbish pit. (File photo)
During this statement, Hughes was seen to slightly shake her head.
Forensic scientist Glenys Knight, who undertook a week-long scene examination following the discovery of Ramsay’s body, was also called by Clarke.
She spoke of how luminol testing was carried out at several sites, including the tanker track along which a seriously injured Ramsay was dragged about 900 metres behind Candy’s vehicle, before being dumped in the rubbish pit.
Knight said she was surprised at the “strong reaction” to the chemical along the track, which still showed up days later, which indicated a “lot of blood” had been deposited there.
The trial continues on Tuesday, and is expected to finish by week’s end.
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