Jason Downie admits to Kapunda triple-murder guilt

AFTER months of waiting, the family of Andrew, Rose and Chantelle Rowe finally know how their "angels" died.

THE family of Andrew, Rose and Chantelle Rowe finally know how their "angels" died.

Tragically, that knowledge has only increased their hatred for Jason Alexander Downie, while leaving many of their questions unanswered.

Downie, 20, appeared in the Supreme Court yesterday over the November 2010 triple murder of the Kapunda family. Asked by Justice John Sulan to confirm his guilty pleas, Downie replied: "Yes, I do."

There had been fears Downie might change his plea, after Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Pallaras, QC, made the unusual request that Downie re-enter his guilty pleas.

Over four harrowing hours, the Rowes' surviving son, Christopher, and his loved ones told the court of their struggle to go on. Mr Pallaras outlined every known detail about the macabre crime.

But he was at a loss to explain how Downie's obsession with Chantelle, 16, sparked the frenzied, bloody assault that claimed three lives.

"We have a vicious killing, followed by a vicious killing, followed by a vicious killing," Mr Pallaras said.

 "There is only one man who knows why he wreaked such vengeance on this family and, to this day, he has not given those details to police.

"There are many questions within this case as to what happened inside that house ... one of the biggest regrets is that they will remain unanswered."

Justice Sulan now faces a task unprecedented in state legal history. He must craft a sentence for a killer whose crime is among the worst but whose youth and confessions warrant, under law, discounts on his penalty.

Downie pleaded guilty to murdering the Rowes inside their Harriet St, Kapunda, home on November 8, 2010.

He sexually assaulted Chantelle while stabbing her, having entered the house through a bathroom window.

After overpowering and stabbing Andrew and Rose, leaving pieces of the knife in their bodies, he tried to clean the blood off before fleeing.

Yesterday, Mr Pallaras said forensic evidence could show how the Rowes died but not the order in which they were murdered, nor how long they had suffered. "They must have been terrorised for a considerable time," he said.

"For two of them, they were terrorised knowing another member of their family had been attacked."

He said Chantelle had been dating a teenager named Dylan Pratt, who was friends with Downie.

Downie pestered Chantelle on her Facebook page and repeatedly drove past her house, unwanted attention she endured for Dylan's sake.

"Downie was, it seems, fantasising over the true nature of their relationship," Mr Pallaras said.

"He was becoming increasingly sexually infatuated by Chantelle. Everything (in the evidence) suggests he was unrequitedly sexually attracted to Chantelle, which may form the beginning of an explanation."

Greg Mead, SC, for Downie, said the case was simple.

 "The explanation is as old as humanity itself,  ordinary, unremarkable, common jealousy," he said.

"Faced with resistance from Andrew and Rose Rowe, he seems to have lost total control ... he obviously went completely berserk that night." Mr Mead said his client was remorseful about his actions and had suffered "post-traumatic amnesia" following the murders.

He also insisted the crimes were not premeditated.

Downie, he said, believed Dylan was in the house and had gone there seeking a confrontation over Chantelle's affections. "(Downie) did not go there armed and did not intend to use knives against them," he said.

"He did not intend a sexual assault, although he may well have been intending to further a relationship with Chantelle."

Mr Pallaras branded that claim another of Downie's many lies.

He said Downie had gone so far as to tell his mother and brother he was innocent, and sought to blame a man "in dark clothes with a green shopping bag" for the murders.

Downie's mother, he said, had been recorded on a police interview video "begging" her son to tell the truth.

"He lied to the police, he lied to his mother, he lied to his brother, he lied to his psychologist," Mr Pallaras said. "He lied to everyone who has (dealt with) him about this case."

He said Dylan had personally told Downie he would not be at Harriet St that night.

"If all he was going to do was (confront Dylan), why was it necessary to park his car around the corner?" he said.

"That can only be to avoid being identified, because the people inside would identify him if he left them alive."

Justice Sulan was also unconvinced by Downie's account.

"My view, based on the evidence, is he was there to have a relationship with Chantelle," he said.

He remanded Downie in custody for sentencing next month.