Supreme Court trial hears words of murder accused

DONALD Gordon's first recollections to police of hitting Danial Cotter with his vehicle have been played on the fifth day of a Supreme Court trial in Grafton.

Grafton CourthousePhoto Adam Hourigan / The Daily Examiner. Picture: Adam Hourigan

MURDER accused Donald Gordon's first recollections to police of hitting his friend Danial Cotter with his vehicle have been played on the fifth day of a Supreme Court trial in Grafton.

Gordon has pleaded not guilty to the charge of murdering the victim at Collum Collum Station, but there is no dispute his actions caused Cotter's death.

The trial is instead centred around whether Gordon's actions on the night of November 6, 2013 amount to murder or manslaughter.

Today, videos of two interviews conducted on November 7, 2013 - one at the crime scene and one at the Grafton police station - recorded Gordon admitting to rural crime investigator Detective Senior Constable Tony King he hit Cotter with his car after they had spent the night drinking together at the Collum Collum homestead.

"We came to the gate and I don't really know what happened," he said during the initial interview.

"(Danial was) in the front seat. I think he tried to get out of the car, and the car reversed back. When I run him over I just left him."

When Det King asked Gordon to talk them through how it occurred, he replied, "He must have said something that pissed me off, and that was it."

"I just reversed back just a little bit, and then he was under the car, under the bloody wheel."

He told the officer both he and Cotter were highly intoxicated, and repeatedly said he could not remember much from that night.

Referring to his first meeting with Gordon at the scene, Det King said yesterday from the witness stand that the accused was "rather sombre and apologetic", and smelled of aftershave.

The second lot of footage, recorded at 7.52pm that night, the accused said he had been given legal advice not to participate in an interview, and after agreeing to a few elements of the previous discussion, cut the interview short.

In both recordings Gordon appeared emotional and at times appeared to be sobbing.

The trial continues tomorrow, with forensic investigator Professor Tim Lyons expected to give evidence from 10am.

Originally published as Supreme Court trial hears words of murder accused