Inquest: Annette Mason murder suspect accused of lying

A suspect in the violent murder of Toowoomba teen Annette Mason has been accused of lying to the victim’s family for the past three decades during a tense exchange in the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Michael Laine outside the magistrates court in Brisbane. AAP Image/Albert Perez

A SUSPECT in the violent murder of Toowoomba teen Annette Mason has been accused of “lying” to the victim’s family for the past three decades during a tense exchange in the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Michael Laine today lashed out at the barrister acting for Annette’s family at an inquest into her death, telling him to “wake up to himself’ when he asked Mr Laine whether he had been lying to avoid being jailed as a “child killer”.

Annette Mason's badly beaten and partly naked body was found on November 19, 1989. Photo: Contributed

“Mr Laine, you say for the last 30 years that you’ve been putting up with bulls—t (but) can I suggest to you that for the last 30 years Annette’s family has been putting up with your bulls--t, your lies. Have you got anything to say about that?” barrister Clem van der Weegen asked.

“Is it the case that your … dissembling of the evidence and the threats you have made to others centred on your greatest fear that you don’t want to go to jail as a child killer – isn’t that the case?”

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Mr Laine denied the comments, saying it was “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard”.

“Wake up to yourself mate, no it’s not,” he said.

Mr van der Weegen said he did not put the propositions to Laine lightly and that he based it on evidence that he had “made admissions” to killing Annette, that his alibi had been “fully discredited”, that a witness saw him in the vicinity of her house that night and that he had allegedly threatened witnesses.

During his time on the witness stand, Mr Laine told the court Annette’s 1989 murder was “a terrible crime” and said he’d done “everything possible” over the years to clear his name.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Adrian Braithwaite, put evidence to Laine that he had seen Annette every day in the lead up to her death and that he was sexually interested in her because she was “fresh blood” at a share house where he had slept with the other female occupants.

“I definitely can’t recall ever being alone with her,” he said.

“I definitely, at no time, was I ever alone with Annette, and if they’re saying it, look I can’t help you out anymore.”

Mr Laine said he had only met Annette twice and that he had “no interest” in sleeping with her.

The inquest continues.