In short:
A woman who met Amber Haigh in early 2002 tells a court that the young mother said Robert Geeves used to get her drunk, tie her up and then have sex with her.
Robert and Anne Geeves were the last people to see Amber Haigh alive and are now on trial for her alleged murder.
What’s next?
More witnesses, including Ms Haigh’s aunt, are expected to give evidence at the judge-alone trial.
A NSW court has heard the man accused of killing intellectually disabled teenager Amber Haigh used to get her drunk, tie her up and have sex with her.
Ms Haigh was 19 when she disappeared in June 2002 and Robert Samuel Geeves and Anne Margaret Geeves, both 64, have pleaded not guilty to her alleged murder in a judge-alone trial in the Supreme Court in Wagga Wagga.
At the time of her disappearance, Ms Haigh had a five-month-old son with Mr Geeves, who was then in his 40s.
She had been living on and off with the couple at their property at Kingsvale, near Young.
The formerly married couple were the last people to see Ms Haigh alive and prosecutors allege they killed her to gain custody of her baby.
Witness Petrina Ingram today told the Supreme Court in Wagga Wagga about a chance encounter with Ms Haigh at Cootamundra train station in early 2002.
She said the pair struck up a conversation and spent a few hours together while their coach and train connections were delayed.
Ms Ingram told the court she complimented “a pram or blanket” Ms Haigh had with her, and was “shocked” when told it was a gift from the father’s wife.
“I wouldn’t think that was typical behaviour,” Ms Ingram said.
Ms Ingram said she asked the teenager about her relationship with the Geeveses, and was told the couple would visit her place in Young and they “would all drink until she was drunk”.
She said Ms Haigh then described what would happen after she was drunk.
“The wife would then go home. The husband would tie her to the bed and have sex with her,” Ms Ingram told the court.
She said Ms Haigh then commented that “[Anne Greeves] couldn’t bear children of her own” and said she believed “they were trying to take the baby off her or get custody of the baby”.
Ms Ingram told the court she noted the interaction in her diary shortly after the conversation and told her then boyfriend about the story later that day.
She said the next time she saw Ms Haigh was in a television news story from June 2002 which reported on her disappearance.
Ms Ingram told the court she called Crimestoppers with her information soon after.
‘Blocked from using keycard’
Witness Tracey Ford, the former partner of Ms Haigh’s uncle, told the court on Tuesday the young mother had travelled to Sydney for a visit and told her “she was fighting with [Mr Geeves] and she took the [baby] and her keycard and caught the train to our place”.
Ms Ford told the court Ms Haigh and her baby stayed with her for four days, during which they had shopped for clothes and medication for the baby, which Ms Haigh worried would upset Mr Geeves.
“She said Robert would kill her when he finds out she took the card,” Ms Ford told the court.
“She just said that he kept [the card] from her all the time.”
Appearing via video link from Penrith, Ms Ford told the court she had a close relationship with Ms Haigh, who was “a good person” but “a little bit slow, age-wise” and “believed everything she was told”.
Three potential fathers
On Monday Ms Haigh’s great-uncle Ray Harding denied he ever had sex with the teenager.
The previous week the court heard from neighbours of Ms Haigh’s from her time living at a unit complex in Young, who testified that she was at times unsure of the paternity of her unborn child.
Angelina Fitzgibbons said Ms Haigh had told her that three people were potentially the father — Mr Geeves, her cousin Paul Harding, or Ray Harding.
Ray Harding recalled an occasion when he would not let Ms Haigh go to a birthday party at the Geeveses’ home.
He told the court that “Anne turned around and said, ‘what, do you want her for yourself?'”
During cross-examination by defence barrister Michael King, Ray Harding denied he could be the father of Ms Haigh’s child.
“I never, never had sexual relations with Amber,” he said.
“She’s too young for me. I’m too old for that.
“If they want to they can do a DNA test on me — I don’t care.”
Justice Julia Lonergan told the court that there was “no suggestion” that Mr Geeves was not the father of Ms Haigh’s child and that she was proceeding on the basis of that being “a fundamental truth”.
Also giving evidence on Monday was Richard Allbutt, who worked on the Geeveses’ property and was friends with Ms Haigh’s great-aunt, Stella Nealon, and Mr Harding.
Mr Allbutt told the court that Ms Haigh stayed with him and his wife for about a week after she had given birth because she “wanted a break from where she was living” and “from being interfered with”.
Mr Allbutt said Ms Haigh did not specify whom she wanted a break from or reveal anything about her relationship with the Geeveses.
The trial continues.
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