Peter Dansie murder trial: Drowning accused seemed calm when medical help arrived, court hears

A man accused of drowning his disabled wife in a city pond “seemed calm, not alarmed” and had “no urgency in his voice or behaviour” when medical help arrived, a court has heard.

Peter and Helen Dansie. Picture: Supplied.

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A man accused of drowning his disabled wife in a city pond “seemed calm, not alarmed” and had “no urgency in his voice or behaviour” when medical help arrived, a court has heard.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court trial of Peter Rex Dansie heard evidence from the first SA Ambulance paramedic to arrive at the scene.

Richard Giles told the court he and his partner were tasked to respond to Dansie’s Triple-0 call and drove to Veale Gardens in the city.

“We could hear someone yelling ‘down here’... it seemed calm, from memory it did not seem to be alarmed,” he said.

“We saw a male standing by the pond... he said ‘in there’... in terms of any urgency in his voice or his behaviour, I didn’t note any.

“We shone our torches on the pond and could see what looked like the small of someone’s back.

“The man said his wife had been in the water for about 25 minutes and he had been unsuccessful in trying to get her out.”

Dansie, 70, has pleaded not guilty to having murdered Helen, 67, on South Tce in April 2017.

Her body and her wheelchair were recovered from a 1.5m deep pond in Veale Gardens.

The Veale Gardens pond in which Helen Dansie drowned. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Dansie has repeatedly and publicly denied any wrongdoing, insisting he jumped into the water to save her after her wheelchair went into the pond.

Prosecutors allege that claim is part of “a course of deception and subterfuge”, upon which Dansie embarked to disguise the “premeditated killing”.

They allege Helen had become “a burden” on Dansie that he “was no longer prepared to tolerate”, prompting him to throw her into the water to drown.

In his Triple-0 call, played to the court, Dansie tells the operator the water is too deep and cold for him to save Helen.

“I just about couldn’t get out of the pond myself, I’ve got bad legs from diabetes,” he says.

“She’s heavy, she’s too heavy, she’s really heavy.”

Peter Dansie outside the Supreme Court in Adelaide. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

Giving evidence, Mr Giles said he observed Dansie to be “wet up to his third button”.

“He told us he tried to turn the wheelchair around and wasn’t able to,” he said.

“He said he asked her to take off the brakes and, as she did, the wheelchair had rolled into the pond.”

He said police arrived and declared the area to be a crime scene before they could begin to remove Helen from the water.

“I went over to the man... he told me his wife had a stroke 22 years ago, that she was wheelchair bound, in a nursing home and he visited her three times a week,” he said.

“He said he thought he had lost her 22 years ago, and I said ‘you got 22 years more than you expected’... he said ‘yeah’.”

In his evidence, Sergeant Phillip Clay — the first SA Police officer on the scene — agreed Dansie was calm.

That, he said, raised his suspicions about the incident.

“He was very calm and seemed unfazed by everything ... he was not distressed,” he said.

“His behaviour and demeanour just did not seem in line with someone whose wife had just drowned ... he seemed too calm.”

The trial, before Justice David Peek and in the absence of a jury, continues.