The opening day of a murder trial in the New South Wales Riverina has heard a married couple allegedly killed a teenager with an intellectual disability as part of a plot to gain custody of her five-month-old son.
Robert Samuel Geeves, 64, and Anne Margaret Geeves, 63, have pleaded not guilty to the alleged murder of 19-year-old Amber Haigh, who disappeared in June 2002.
The pair are facing a judge-alone trial before Justice Julia Lonergan in the Supreme Court at Wagga Wagga.
It is expected to run for up to eight weeks.
The court heard Ms Haigh had an intellectual disability and was living on-and-off with Robert and Anne Geeves at a property near Young prior to her disappearance.
Mr Geeves was the father of her son.
The teenager was reportedly last seen when the married couple dropped her off at Campbelltown Train Station, two weeks before they reported her as missing.
A coronial inquest into her disappearance was held in 2011 and found she likely died as a result of homicide or misadventure.
Defence barristers on Friday argued there was insufficient evidence to support the murder charges.
Couple ‘wanted’ teen’s baby
In his opening address on Friday, Crown prosecutor Paul Kerr said the Geeves’ had one child together but wanted more, having endured three miscarriages and a stillbirth.
He said the trial would hear evidence that community members were concerned Ms Haigh was being taken advantage of and used as a surrogate mother.
Witnesses including neighbours, hospital staff, family members, support workers, and police officers are expected to give evidence during the trial.
Mr Kerr said the court would also hear audio recordings from listening devices hidden in the Geeves’ car and home in which they allegedly constructed lies about their actions.
He said the couple wanted to undermine Ms Haigh’s ability as a mother with support workers and “plant the seed” that she was suicidal.
“They wanted custody of [Ms Haigh’s son] and knew that she needed to be removed from the equation,” he said.
“When it became apparent that achieving their desired outcome would be more difficult than thought … they killed her.”
During Mr Kerr’s opening address, the Geeves’ sat together in the dock, occasionally exchanging glances.
Investigation clouded by ‘haze of mistrust’
Defence barristers told the court the Geeves’ were pinned as the prime suspects from the moment they reported Ms Haigh’s disappearance, which clouded the subsequent investigation.
Michael King, who is acting on behalf of Mrs Geeves, said this was influenced by her husband’s “unfortunate history” with law enforcement.
“Everything they did was viewed through a haze of mistrust and suspicion,” the defence barrister said.
Mr Geeves’ defence barrister Paul Coady said statements from community members were clouded by the disapproval many people had of his relationship with Ms Haigh.
He said rumours and conjecture caused witnesses to reconstruct memories to make them more “meaningful or sinister”.
Mr Coady described the prosecution’s proposed motive as “self-destructive” as the Geeves’ already had a relationship with Ms Haigh’s son and would have been aware that suspicion against them would likely result in the child being removed from their care.
Both defence barristers said they would dispute the prosecution’s claims regarding the contents of the audio recordings from the covert listening devices.
Teen was bubbly but easily misled, mother says
Ms Haigh’s mother Rosalind Wright told the court her daughter regularly moved between various family members’ homes during her childhood.
She said her daughter had a bubbly personality and always wanted to help, but she struggled in school due to being a slow learner.
Ms Wright told the court Ms Haigh could be “very easily misled”.
“She wasn’t a leader, she was a follower,” she said.
Ms Wright said she had initially believed her daughter was in a relationship with Mr Geeves’ teenage son and did not know the older man was the father of Ms Haigh’s child until after the disappearance.
The last time she saw her daughter was in 2000 when the teenager visited her for two weeks in Sydney.
The trial continues.
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