Bloodied knives, towels found by neighbour in Jake Scott Ashman murder trial

A murder trial has heard a woman returned home from church to a find a grisly package hidden in the bushes behind her riverside home the day a dad was stabbed 34 times in a nearby street.

Police take a man into custody following an alleged murder at a unit at 146 Cambridge St, Granville.

A bloodied knife wrapped in a red-checkered tea towel, tied up with pink string, was one of the many items found by a Granville resident in her yard after church in February, 2019.

The knife is one of two which a murder trial has heard was used in the “brutal killing” of Darren Ints in his Cambridge Street unit where he sustained 34 stab wounds along with blunt force trauma injuries.

The man charged with his murder, Jake Scott Ashman pleaded not guilty this week in Rockhampton Supreme Court.

During the trial, the court heard evidence from a Cardigan Street resident who came across a blue and white backpack and a blue cool reusable shopping bag hidden behind bushes on her property near the Mary River after she returned from church on the day of Mr Ints’ death.

Leona Lavelle told the court she had gone to take photographs of her boat she intended to sell when she spotted the bags in her bushes.

She said once her tenant opened one of the bags and saw the bloody knife wrapped up, they called the police.

Senior Constable Shane Coles was the Scenes of Crime officer called to Ms Lavelle’s property to document the location where the bags were found, take them into his custody and list what was inside.

A map showing where the murder scene, the red mark, was located compared to where two bags – one being a blue cool reusable shopping bag, were hidden in bushes (yellow mark) next to the Mary River, containing evidence from Darren Ints's murder.

As he was questioned, photographs of the bags and their contents were shown to the court.

Sen Const. Coles told the court that inside the blue cool bag was a yellow handled knife with blood on the blade, wrapped in a red-checkered tea towel, tied up with pink string.

He said he took a swab of the blood on the blade and did a tape lift of the handle.

Underneath the knife was a white T-shirt which appeared to have blood on it and was inside out.

Senior Constable Coles said he did a presumptive test on the shirt which returned a positive for blood and then he took a sample of the blood for further forensic testing.

He said he also took samples from the cuffs of the shirt for skin cells and sweat.

The bag also contained a Pine-O clean bottle plus five empty toilet rolls – four of which had blood splatter on them.

Jake Scott Ashman, 22, walking into his first appearance at Maryborough Magistrates Court over a charge of murder. Photo – Annie Perets

Inside the cool bag was a plastic reusable bag containing a blue tea towel and white bath mat with blood stains, along with a bottle and can of an energy drink.

The backpack contained a grey flannelette sheet with blood stains, a bowl, a chips packet, a dark and light blue towel, black handled scissors, Fanta bottle, grey or faded navy blue bath mat, black handled Wiltshire steak knife, dishwashing yellow and green sponge in a side pocket, a razor in another side pocket, a red chux, a white towel.

“I saw a smear of what tested to be blood on the blade of the (black handled) knife near where it says Wiltshire (and) I took a swab of that,” Senior Constable Coles said.

He said the red chux, white towel and another item from the cool bag were damp.

During his interview with police who showed the items found (a video of this was played in court) Mr Ashman told officers “I didn’t think I’d get caught with that one.”

The prosecution has alleged Mr Ashman killed his neighbour and tried to go shopping with his bank card.

The verdict in the judge-only trial will be delivered at a later date.