Braddon Charles Peter Butler pleads not guilty to murdering Jay Brogden

A supreme court justice has today made a shock call in the case against a man charged with murdering Jay Brogden. ROLLING COVERAGE

Braddon Charles Peter Butler (right) has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jay Brogden (left) in 2007 at Airlie Beach.

A supreme court justice has today ruled a mistrial against an alleged drug dealer charged with murdering Jay Brogden over damning comments made before the jury.

Braddon Charles Peter Butler has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Brogden between April 20 and May 10 2007 at Airlie Beach.

The 21 year old was last seen on April 21 that year, but has since vanished – his body has never been found.

Only 14 of up to 30 people to be called had given evidence with the crown part way through questioning a star witness when an application was made for the jury to be discharged and the case ruled a mistrial over comments from a different witness.

Justice North asked Mr Butler’s barrister Scott Lynch to impress on his client “he may spend the trial in the cells” over his behaviour.

“It’s happened to others,” Justice North said.

On Friday Justice North said he “reluctantly” agreed with the mistrial application, noting the witness had “gratuitously” made comments not sought as part of the crown case.

Jay Brogden was last seen alive in Airlie Beach in April 2007. His body has never been found. Picture: Jay Brogden family

The court heard Mr Butler was alleged to have been Mr Brogden’s drug dealer – the case against him is circumstantial, based on alleged witness conversations with him or that he was involved in and overheard by others.

Justice North found that part of the witness’s evidence may be incoherent if the jury was told to just ignore the comments.

He further found even with “the strongest of directions” the comments could play a role subtly in the jury’s deliberations, “particularly in this case which is almost entirely circumstantial” – and ruled the comments prejudicial.

“What happened is not as a consequence of any carelessness on the part of (crown prosecutor Nathan) Crane or (Mr Butler’s defence barrister Scott) Lynch,” Justice North told the jury.

“What happened was a matter that was outside their control.

“I regret that you have been inconvenienced over the last … four days and not being able to see out the important task that you were appointed to do.”

Justice North relisted the trial against Mr Butler for February 2023.

Mr Lynch made a costs application on the basis the trial was discontinued and a new trial was ordered “and that the reason was not attributable in anyway to the act, neglect or fault of the accused or the accused’s legal representatives”, which was accepted.

‘Fed him to the sharks’: Witness accused of making up lie for reward

A man accused of murdering Jay Brogden allegedly boasted about how he and a mate “shot him with a 12 gauge and fed him to the sharks”, a court heard.

But a barrister for the murder accused has suggested Benjamin Ware made up the conversation to claim a reward.

Mr Ware, 43, told Mackay Supreme Court he had been friends with Braddon Charles Peter Butler for about 12 months.

Mr Butler has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Brogden, 21, sometime between April 21 and May 10, 2007 at Airlie Beach.

Mr Ware recalled a conversation he allegedly heard between Mr Butler and his mate Gavin Parnell while they were all at Mr Butler’s motel room.

He told the court they “boasted about how they’d gotten rid of someone at Funnel Bay”.

Braddon Charles Peter Butler (pictured) has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jay Brogden in 2007 at Airlie Beach.

“Talking about how they coaxed him down to Funnel Bay,” Mr Ware told the court.

“They were bouncing off each other … Gavin was doing most of the talking.

“They were almost finishing each other’s story as they went.

“They said they shot him with a 12 gauge and fed him to the sharks.

“They were sort of acting proud and giggling … made me not want to believe what I was hearing.”

Mr Ware said they did not mention a name.

Another witness Stephen Graham, who told the court he was at Mr Butler’s motel one night with Mr Ware and Mr Parnell, recalled a conversation when he heard Mr Parnell said “they fed him to the sharks”.

“All I remember is him saying that … then Braddon elbowed him, that’s it, it went quiet,” Mr Graham said.

During his evidence Mr Ware repeatedly referred to an incident where Mr Butler stabbed him about 20 times.

Mr Ware told the court when he had spoken to police about this incident he told detectives about the conversation he had heard.

He told the court police twice told him to stop making up rumours.

Barrister Scott Lynch asked Mr Ware when the conversation took place.

“It was a few months before Braddon stabbed me,” he said.

“I suggest to you that that conversation … is made up,” Mr Lynch said.

“Suggest away, it was said and done,” Mr Ware replied.

Both Mr Ware and Mr Graham denied only coming forward for the reward.

“I made my statement to keep the community safe,” Mr Ware said.

Mr Lynch questioned Mr Ware on asking police for $5000 to be involved in a committal hearing, to which Mr Ware said it was to cover the cost of travelling from Western Australia to Mackay.

Mr Lynch said the police had already purchased flights, but Mr Ware said their options meant his vehicle would have to remain at Kalgoorlie airport and he had felt it would not be safe.

The trial continues.

Jay Brogden murder: Court hears details of ‘distressing’ phone calls

Days before Jay Brogden went missing he spoke to his mother on the phone and told her he wanted to come live with her, a court heard.

“Suddenly, very suddenly, instantaneously, he vanished,” Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane told a Mackay jury in his opening statement.

Mackay Supreme Court heard the month before the 21 year old went missing he received “distressing” phone calls that caused him to vomit and shake.

Gina Merritt said her then-21-year-old son “asked me to purchase him a plane ticket”.

It was the last time she spoke to her son – he went missing on April 21, 2007 and his body has never been found.

Braddon Charles Peter Butler has pleaded not guilty to his murder.

She said in March 2007 – the month before he went missing – he had spent about three weeks with her at her home in New South Wales and had planned to move there full time.

“All I can tell you is the phone calls were very distressing … they would make him physically sick,” Mrs Merritt told the court.

Jay Brogden, 21, vanished from the Whitsundays on April 21, 2007.

Barrister Scott Lynch, for Mr Butler, suggested Mr Brogden “would be vomiting, shaking”.

“Yes it was an immediate response to the phone calls,” Mrs Merritt said.

Mr Lynch questioned if the phone calls were about a job Mr Brogden had been paid to complete.

“He didn’t discuss who was on the phone at the time,” Mrs Merritt said.

The court heard Mr Brogden returned to Airlie Beach after the three-week visit.

“The phone calls had nothing to do with him going back … it was the work that he’d been paid to do that he hadn’t completed,” Mrs Merritt said.

The court heard Mr Brogden had indicated he had to complete a job he had been paid for and that a man named “Drew” had commissioned the work.

Mrs Merritt, while giving evidence, told the jury how much her son loved fishing.

It was “everything to him”, she said.

Mrs Merritt also told the court she and her eldest child spoke “all the time”.

The court heard the last time she spoke was two days before he went missing.

“He wanted to come home,” she said.

“He asked me to purchase him a plane ticket.”

The court heard she had not been able to at that time.

The last family member to see Mr Brogden in person was his aunt Caroline Merritt, who was also called to give evidence.

The court heard there was a barbecue at Pioneer Bay Apartments where Ms Merritt lived and her nephew, his former partner Patricia Heath and her six-month-old daughter arrived.

Ms Merritt said she saw Mr Brogden and Ms Heath arguing.

The court heard the argument escalated and Ms Merritt saw “Jay hitting Trish … in the face”.

“From my first memory Trish was sort of on the ground and Jay was hitting her,” Ms Merritt said.

She told the court Ms Heath was bleeding and had injuries to her lip and eye and that she pulled Mr Brogden off Ms Heath.

“He was pacing, he was holding his hand … he was asking if she was ok … (saying) ‘what have I done’,” Ms Merritt said.

The court heard Ms Merritt told him “he behaved like an animal”, that she loved him and to come back another time.

Whitsunday Criminal Investigation Branch Detective Sergeant Luke Scells became involved in the Jay Brogden case in mid 2018.

A photo of Mr Butler’s home at 2 Mazlin St was shown to the jury.

Under questioning from Mr Lynch Detective Sergeant Scells said a reward had been offered on December 24, 2015.

The jury heard about a red and white boat Mr Brogden had bought in 2006 for about $500.

The court also heard a red and white boat had been at Mr Butler’s property for a number of years.

Detective Sergeant Scells said police never examined the boat and it was not around by the time he was involved in the investigation.

Mr Lynch said the boat was “always present” and “wasn’t hidden”.

Detective Sergeant Scells agreed with Mr Lynch that the investigation revealed “an enormous number of rumours” including that others, namely Drew Hutchins, Gavin Parnell, Mark Shoesmith or Casey Heath, had killed Mr Brogden.

Mr Lynch said the police were also dealing with “unreliable druggies”.

Detective Sergeant Scells: “Correct.”

Mr Lynch: “Many of them.”

Detective Sergeant Scells: “Correct.”

Mr Lynch: “Some of whom had a violent disposition.”

Detective Sergeant Scells: “Correct.”

Mr Lynch also questioned if there was a theory Mr Brogden had “stolen some firearms”.

Detective Sergeant Scells said he did not believe any “firearms had ever been located but empty magazines were”.

The court heard some of Mr Brogden’s belongings were returned to his aunty and included some bullets, and a tackle box with handmade lures that he always had with him.

The trial, under Justice David North, continues.

Airlie Beach ‘underworld’: Allegations Jay Brogden murdered by drug dealer

A man accused of murdering Jay Brogden in the Whitsundays was also allegedly his drug dealer, a court heard.

Braddon Charles Peter Butler has pleaded not guilty to the 21 year old’s murder between April 20 and May 10, 2007 at Airlie Beach.

Mackay Supreme Court heard allegations Mr Butler supplied Mr Brogden marijuana and one time pointed a shotgun at his face because the 21 year old did not want to sell drugs for him anymore.

Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane, in his opening to the jury, said this was not the type of murder trial “where there’s a body we can pore over forensically”.

Mr Brogden’s body has never been found.

“It’s a circumstantial case,” Mr Crane said, adding it was the type of case that “brings together all this information to demonstrate that Jay is in fact dead and was deceased in early 2007”.

“The backdrop for all of this is Airlie Beach where Jay was living in 2006 and 2007.”

Mr Crane said Airlie Beach might be a nice area but told the jury they would hear about its “underworld”.

“There’s a flavour of those who take drugs, use drugs and sell drugs,” Mr Crane said.

“There’s going to be a cast of characters from that world who (are) coming in to tell you what they heard … about Jay and about a man named Braddon Butler.”

Mr Crane said the jury would hear from between 20 and 30 witnesses, some who would say how Mr Butler was also allegedly involved in the drug underworld.

The court heard he allegedly sold Mr Brogden, who smoked a lot of marijuana, his drugs.

Mr Crane said witnesses would tell the jury how Mr Butler allegedly made comments, statements, words over the years about how he “harmed Jay … killed Jay, knew of Jay being dead”.

One witness will give evidence of a time she allegedly saw Mr Butler become agitated “because Jay no longer wanted to sell drugs for (him)”.

“Jay wanted a real job. Jay was taking a different path,” Mr Crane said.

The court heard the witness will allege Mr Butler pulled a shotgun hidden behind a panel of loose plaster board “and he pointed that gun at Jay’s face … screaming at him”.

She will allege she defused the situation, Mr Brogden left the home and “she never saw Jay again”.

Braddon Charles Peter Butler (pictured) has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jay Brogden in 2007 at Airlie Beach.

Mr Crane said the witness would later ask Mr Butler, after noting she had not seen Mr Brogden for a while, and he allegedly told her “he took care of it”.

The court heard it is alleged she asked him, “I heard rumours that you shot Jay out on a boat”.

“And he said … ‘my boat’s down there and it’s got blood on it’,” Mr Crane said.

The court heard Mr Brogden loved fishing and was in the process of fixing a red and white half cab boat he had purchased for about $500 in 2006.

The court heard it was also alleged there was a conversation between Mr Butler and a man named Gavin Parnell, who was friends with Mr Brogden, that they had met a man in town “coaxed him to Funnel Bay to go fishing” in a red and white boat, turned on him “got rid of him and fed him to the sharks”.

“Which the crown said was an admission,” Mr Crane said.

Loved ones last saw Mr Brogden on April 21 at a barbecue at Pioneer Bay Apartments, where his aunt Caroline lived and where he sometimes stayed.

The court heard he had been involved in a violent fight with the mother of his six-month-old daughter and his aunt told him she loved him but asked him to leave the property because of his behaviour.

Mr Crane said Mr Brogden’s matter was initially a missing person’s investigation.

The court heard Mr Brogden didn’t have a phone at the time but police circulated photos of him in pubs, clubs and on the news.

Mr Crane said there was a search, police checked if he got on a bus or flights and checked hospitals – on May 2 he was reported as a missing person, 11 days after his loved ones had last heard from him.

The court heard Mr Brogden’s mother would give evidence the last time she saw her son was in March 2007 – he came to visit her when she was living in Newcastle for his 21st birthday.

In that same month Jay’s partner Patricia Heath took their daughter down to Newcastle to meet her nan for the first time.

“His vanishing is significant the crown says,” Mr Crane said.

His mother will tell the court about the communication, that it did not matter where he was she would speak to him regularly on the phone.

“All of a sudden there was nothing, there was no communication with him,” Mr Crane said.

The trial, under Justice David North, continues.

Jury empanelled in Jay Brogden murder trial

A Mackay jury will begin to hear evidence from up to 30 witnesses as a murder trial kicks off involving a man accused of killing Jay Brogden.

The 21 year old was last seen in the Whitsundays in 2007.

Braddon Charles Peter Butler on Tuesday pleaded not guilty in Mackay Supreme Court to murdering Mr Brogden between April 20 and May 10, 2007 at Airlie Beach.

A seven-man, five-woman jury was empanelled and they are expected to head evidence from up to 30 people including Mr Brogden’s mother and aunt as well as acting and retired police officers.
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane also read the names of 100 witnesses the jury may hear about during the trial.

Justice David North said under Queensland law Mr Butler was presumed innocent and warned the jury they must “ignore any feelings of sympathy for or prejudice against” the accused or anyone connected to the trial.

He explained the jury would have to determine a number of elements for the charge of murder – that Mr Brogden was dead, that Mr Butler caused his death and did so unlawfully and that he intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to the 21 year old.

The court heard the Crown must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt for the jury to find Mr Butler guilty.

Justice North also told the jury a number of legal questions had arisen that he needed to deal with that was expected to take the rest of Tuesday.

As a result Mr Crane will open the Crown’s case on Wednesday.