Portmoresbey Cecil admits to killing Susan Duffy, but not murdering her

Confronting autopsy results have been revealed at a trial of a Queensland man charged with the murder of his mother-in-law. It comes after a jury was shown a disturbing social media video taken on the day of the killing. *DISTRESSING*

A forensic pathologist says a Rockhampton grandmother stabbed to death by her son-in-law likely died quickly after sustaining any of three potentially lethal injuries.

Dr Jack Garland performed the autopsy on Susan Margaret Duffy, 71, who was killed by her son-in-law Portmoresbey “BJ” Cecil.

Mr Cecil has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter and is on trial in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton this week.

Dr Garland gave evidence about his findings from the autopsy.

“The cause of death I gave was sharp force injuries to neck and chest,” he said.

The court heard Mrs Duffy sustained a 145mm by 55 millimetre gaping injury to her neck, at least 15mm deep through the main artery pumping blood to the brain and two branches of the main vein draining blood from the brain, and piercing the trachea with a 25mm incision.

“The neck injuries, they could cause death due to a lack of oxygenated blood supply to the brain due to the destruction of the vessels,” Dr Garland said.

The court heard there were three stabs - two overlapping - that pierced through cartilage between the ribs and sternum, the pericardium sac which protects the heart and perforated the right ventricle, right atrium and inferior vena cava parts of the heart.

Dr Garland explained the vena cava was one of the largest veins in the body and it drained the entire lower half of the body’s veins all combined back into the heart.

He said the two stab wounds that pierced the heart “could have caused death through disruption of the heart muscle and disruption of return on blood supply to the heart, preventing the heart from functioning as a pump and stopping circulation of oxygenated blood around the body”.

Dr Garland said he found 1.2 litres of blood in Mrs Duffy’s chest cavity - there should have been none.

“Death could occur quite quickly following those,” he said.

“It could have been a matter of minutes.”

SON-IN-LAW HAD ‘BLOODY LIP’ DAY OF KILLING, UPLOADED DISTURBING VIDEO

The woman an accused murderer saw the day he stabbed his mother-in-law 15 times has described blood splatter on his face and wet hair when he rocked up at her house.

Kasey Mitchell, who had been friends with the alleged victim’s daughter for about 20 years and had opened her home to the accused’s son and former wife, has described this appearance to a jury this morning.

She gave evidence in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton after Portmoresbey “BJ” Cecil pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter for stabbing his mother-in-law Susan Margaret Duffy 15 times in her West Street, Allenstown, home on August 21, 2022.

Sue Duffy was allegedly murdered on Sunday August 21.

On April 30, day two of the trial, Ms Mitchell said Mr Cecil had marks on his lip that looked like someone had punched his mouth.

She said he looked like he had blood on his lip.

Crown prosecutor Joshua Phillips showed the jury a video Mr Cecil had posted on social media the day he stabbed his mother-in-law, pointing to marks on Mr Cecil’s lips on a screenshot of the video.

Ms Mitchell said Mr Cecil also had “a speck of blood” on his cheek and some above his lip.

She said his hair was “very, very wet and dripping”, but she couldn’t see if it was blood or water.

Ms Mitchell said she was scared and confused because Mr Cecil was behaving erratically – sad at times and extremely angry at others – during their conversation.

BLUE-HANDLED KINCROME BOX CUTTER MOST LIKELY WEAPON

On Monday, day one of the trial, the jury saw images of the 15 stab wounds found on Mrs Duffy’s body.

A gaping throat wound the width of a 10 cent coin and a strip of skin cut off the back of a grandmother’s hand, has been shown to a jury in a murder trial.

Photographs seen in court showed it started at the oesophagus and all the way around the side of the neck, almost to the spine.

The images were shown to the jury tasked with the job of deciding if Mr Cecil murdered her.

Chief Justice Helen Bowskill said the key issue the jury had to decide was whether or not Mr Cecil intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to Mrs Duffy for the murder charge.

Mr Phillips showed the jury the images of the wounds on Mrs Duffy at the home on August 21, along with photographs taken of them during the autopsy.

Scene of crime inspecting and photographing the ute Portmoresbey Cecil allegedly drove to the Rockhampton Police Station.

There were two stab wounds under Mrs Duffy’s sternum, one to her left breast, others to her middle and lower abdomen, one to a bicep, one to the side of her mouth, one through one of her eyebrows, one on a little finger and three to her left armpit.

Mr Phillips said they were “probably inflicted with a blue-handled Kincrome box cutter” which was found by police in the centre console of Mr Cecil’s ute, which he had driven from Allenstown to Rockhampton CBD and parked across the road from Rockhampton Police Station.

Mr Phillips handed an evidence bag to Detective Acting Sergeant Kama Burgess, who was the lead investigator in Mrs Duffy’s alleged murder, in the courtroom.

The Kincrome box cutter was inside a sheath in the evidence bag, which was no bigger than Detective Acting Sergeant Burgess’s hand.

While Detective Acting Sergeant Burgess was on the stand this afternoon, the court heard Mrs Duffy’s daughter and Mr Cecil’s former wife Deborah was the person who found Mrs Duffy after the stabbing.

‘I’VE SMOKED THE B----’

These were the words Mr Cecil allegedly said to a friend when he was explaining he had just killed his mother-in-law, Mr Phillips told the jury.

Mr Cecil has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, but guilty to one count of manslaughter, in relation to the death of his mother-in-law.

Chief Justice Helen Bowskill said the key issue the jury had to decide in this case was whether or not Mr Cecil intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to Mrs Duffy for the murder charge.

Mr Phillips told the Rockhampton Supreme Court Mrs Duffy suffered 15 stab wounds which “were probably inflicted with a blue handled Kincrome box cutter”.

Mr Phillips said Mrs Duffy suffered 15 stab wounds which “were probably inflicted with a blue handled Kincrome box cutter”.

Mrs Duffy’s husband, Daniel, told the jury that only a day prior, Mr Cecil was greeted into their home in the usual way – a handshake between the two men, a hug and a kiss between Mrs Duffy and Mr Cecil – despite Mr Cecil’s relationship with their daughter Deborah ending three months prior.

Mr Phillips said Mr Cecil and Deborah have a son together and Mr Cecil had picked him up from his grandparents’ West Street home on the Saturday for a lunch date.

He said the next day, Mr Cecil arrived unannounced, had an argument with Mrs Duffy and Mr Cecil punched Mrs Duffy in the stomach, then Mr Cecil left momentarily.

Mr Phillips said Mr Cecil drove around the block before returning to the Duffy’s home and killing Ms Duffy, inflicting the wounds in a few short minutes.

Portmoresbey Cecil allegedly told the friend, “tell Debbie she can stop playing f---ing games now”.

He said afterwards, Mr Cecil drove to Deborah’s best friend’s place where Deborah had been staying since the break-up, handed the friend bank cards and rattled off pin codes.

Mr Phillips said Mr Cecil allegedly told the friend, “tell Debbie she can stop playing f---ing games now”.

Mr Cecil told his business partner “I’ve smoke the bitch” in relation to Mrs Duffy, the court heard.

He was meant to be in Mackay for work, but explained he “had some shit to sort out” in Rockhampton.

Mr Phillips said Mr Cecil then drove to Rockhampton’s CBD and parked across the road from the police station where he walked in and allegedly told the desk clerk “you guys would be looking for me. I’ve done something stupid”.

The trial continues.