Townsville Supreme Court: Murder retrial of Chante Lee White and accessory Jamie Alan McAuliffe after death of Kayla Lee Golding
The jury involved in the retrial of Kayla Golding’s alleged murder at a Townsville apartment has been “formally discharged”.
Townsville
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A judge has formally discharged the jury involved in the retrial of Kayla Golding’s alleged murder.
On what should have been day 10 of the trial, Justice David North told the jury they were free to leave as the proceedings would not continue.
The last two weeks the jury heard evidence given by neighbours who lived at the Riverway Dr apartments where Ms Golding bled out in the driveway, officers involved in the investigation, a witness who was in the room when the woman’s neck was cut and police interviews of the defendants were played.
Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard alleged at the start of the trial that Chante Lee White cut her friend’s neck with a hunting knife after they had a confrontation regarding Ms White’s boyfriend at the time, Jamie Alan McAuliffe.
It was also alleged by the prosecution that Mr McAuliffe helped Ms White clean up blood in the apartment, hide from police and convinced a witness to lie to police in a statement.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mr McAuliffe who was represented by defence barrister Dane Marley instructed by Legal Aid Queensland throughout the trial had said in his police interview that was played to the jury that he didn’t know Ms Golding had died and when he drove around her body in the driveway he thought it was a drunk.
Ms White who was represented by defence barrister Harvey Walters instructed by Rennick Law told detectives in her police interview played that Ms Golding came at her with a raised fist and then she blacked out.
Justice North addressed the jury when they entered Townsville Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon.
“You are not going to be asked to deliberate,” he said.
“As a result of legal arguments and rulings I’ve made this trial will be ended and I am going to discharge you as the jury.
“You have been conscientious, attentive and good humoured which is a very good start. Thank you for those attributes.”
Justice North told the jury the decision was not made based off their actions.
“The discharge has come about as a result of extensive legal arguments, it has nothing to do with any of you,” he said.
“Thank you for the service.”
Ms White was remanded in custody and Mr McAuliffe’s bail was enlarged.
The matters have been listed for mention on November 26, where the appearances of the defendants are not required.
TRIAL, DAY EIGHT AND NINE
The murder trial of Kayla Golding who was allegedly killed after she was stabbed in the neck by her friend inside an apartment is drawing to a close as council finalise directions with the judge.
Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard finished the prosecution’s evidence on Thursday afternoon, day eight of the trial.
Chante Lee White who pleaded not guilty to murder and is represented by defence barrister Harvey Walters instructed by Rennick Law did not choose to give evidence which is within the rights of the legal proceeding, nor did Jamie Alan McAuliffe who pleaded not guilty to accessory after murder and is represented by defence barrister Dane Marley instructed by Legal Aid Queensland.
At the end of the crown’s evidence Ms Sheppard called upon a detectives who interviewed Ms White after she was found hiding in a cupboard at a West End home and played the interview to the jury where the woman was heard saying she “blacked out” at the time Ms Golding’s neck was cut.
The prosecutor also played Mr McAuliffe’s police interview to the jury where he said he didn’t realise what had happened and thought the person laying in the driveway of the apartments was “a drunk” and not Ms Golding as she bled out.
On Friday the jury did not come back into court as legal council discussed the proceedings.
The trial is scheduled to resume on Tuesday, October 22 for day 10 where it’s expected the prosecution and defence will provide closing addresses before Justice David North summarises the case.
TRIAL, DAY SEVEN
On day seven of a murder trial the jury has watched an interview between police and the woman accused of killing her friend, with the woman telling the detective she ‘blacked out’ when she stabbed Kayla Golding in the neck.
Chante Lee White who pleaded not guilty to murder spoke to a detective five days after her friend bled out in a Riverway Dr driveway and three days after she was found hiding in a cupboard.
She told police her boyfriend at the time, Jamie Alan McAuliffe who pleaded not guilty to accessory after murder, and Ms Golding had “beef” after having words with one another in the bedroom of the Townsville unit while Ms White and another woman “chopped” marijuana.
During the interview that crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard played to the jury they heard from Ms White that Mr McAuliffe left the room - it is not alleged he was involved in killing Ms Golding.
“I said look if you got something to say, say it to my face,” Ms White told police about her conversation with Ms Golding.
“I continued to chop up and she said, ‘what is that, that’s a bit weird’ and was pointing at a blade I was given by Jamie for my birthday and was hanging off my duchess.”
Ms White told police she grabbed the knife to show Ms Golding and said “look I’m not trying to start anything I wanna know what’s going on, you’ve just started on me in my house” and she claimed that’s when Ms Golding raised her fists.
“I said ‘you need to grab your clothes and stuff you need to go’ and I asked her to leave,” Ms White said.
“She turned around and all I seen was her coming at me with a closed fist. I then.. I don’t remember much I was blacking out then, came to tears in shock in a big state of shock like scared.”
Ms White told police she turned to the other woman that had been in the bedroom and said “where’s Kayla? Where’d she go? I hope she’s okay”.
The woman told the detective she then remembered seeing blood and told the witness she needed to call an ambulance and said “someone ring an ambulance I think somethings wrong with my best mate”.
During the interview the detectives asked questions about the woman’s friendship with Ms Golding, and she said they had known each other for two years and met while both were “under the influence” at Ms White’s apartment.
“She was awesome, like a friend I’d never had,” Ms White said.
“Still to this day we got along like two peas in a pod she was like the sister I never had.”
Throughout the police interview the woman’s story changed multiple times, at one point she said that while showing Ms Golding the knife she took hold of the other end and when the officer said “you said she didn’t, how did she have her fists up if she had a hold of the knife?”
“No no I’m trying to remember for you,” Ms White replied.
The officer asked again, “did Kayla take hold of the knife?”
Ms White said, “I’m not sure that’s when I blanked.
“I saw a fist in my face that’s it.”
The crown’s case is anticipated to wrap up Thursday morning, where Ms White and Mr McAuliffe’s representation will be asked if they will provide evidence, however it is not compulsory for them to do so.
TRIAL, DAY SIX
The man accused of helping a woman cover up a murder and hide from police told authorities he thought the woman that was bleeding out in the driveway was just a “drunk”.
On day six of a trial where Chante Lee White has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Kayla Golding and Jamie Alan McAuliffe pleaded not guilty to accessory after the fact, the audio recording of Mr McAuliffe’s police interview was played to the jury.
In the recording that was played to the court by crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard, Mr McAuliffe told the officers he saw blood while walking up the staircase of the Riverway Dr building before he, Ms White and another woman left in a car.
“Chante said ‘she shouldn’t have come at me’ and I said ‘what do you mean?’ and I thought she punched or split her open or something,” he said.
“When we were leaving I did see someone laying on the thing, I thought it was a drunk I really did.
“If I knew that was someone bleeding out I would’ve stopped and helped them. I would’ve stopped to help that poor girl.”
During the interview that was played police asked the man what Ms White said to him.
It is not alleged Mr McAuliffe was not involved in killing Ms Golding.
“The knife got her,” he said.
The police asked “what do you mean the knife got her?”
“The knife went in and got her, her neck or something I’m not sure,” Mr McAuliffe said.
Police asked the man about whether or not he had driven back to the apartment after the three of them left and Ms Golding was left in the driveway to which he said yes.
He said he saw police at the unit and thought it was an RBT.
Justice David North reminded the jury after they listened to the audio, they were to be careful not to use what was said by Mr McAuliffe or the officers as admissible evidence against Ms White.
Additionally, the jury heard the moment police found Ms White hiding in a cupboard in a house in West End after she had avoided police for three days.
The audio from the body-worn camera footage from the arresting officer depicted authorities arriving at the Echlin Street home and asking a man if he knew Chante White and he said “no never heard of her before”.
A woman was asked next who also said she didn’t know Ms White, and a third person who was located on the second floor of the house also said they hadn’t known the woman before the officer opened a cupboard in the bedroom.
“You may as well jump out mate,” the officer was heard saying before asking the woman’s name.
“Chante,” she said.
The woman was then told she had been charged with murder and arrested.
The jury is also expected to hear from other officers involved in the investigation.
TRIAL, DAY FOUR
A pathologist who examined Kayla Golding’s body after she died has taken the stand on day four of the trial where Chante Lee White pleaded not guilty to murder and Jamie Alan McAuliffe pleaded not guilty to accessory after the fact.
Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard called upon a senior staff specialist pathologist who performed the post-mortem autopsy on the woman’s body where he said the most likely cause of death was from a “sharp –forced injury on the neck”.
“The extent of the blood loss means blood loss is the most likely explanation for allowing air into the bloodstream,” he said.
Audible gasps from some jurors were heard when close up images of the wound on Ms Golding’s neck were shown, with one woman putting her hands in front of her eyes.
The expert also described bruises found to Ms Golding’s face that would not have been as a result of emergency resuscitation, he said there were multiple cuts over her right forehead and eye socket that was most likely as a result from “blunt force contact” which would usually come from a “punch or blow”.
The pathologist also told the jury that methamphetamine was found in Ms Golding’s bloodstream however no traces of THC were found.
Defence barrister Harvey Walters who is representing Ms White asked the expert about the level of drugs that were found in the woman’s bloodstream specifically asking if they were “very high”.
“It’s dependent on the frequency the person uses the medication because there will be a degree of tolerance someone develops with time,” the pathologist said.
Mr Walters asked about the behavioural changes from people who consume methamphetamine.
“I’m more concerned with the behavioural changes and the effects it had on the body itself such as increased heart rate and blood pressure,” the lawyer said.
The pathologist confirmed he could not be certain as it depends on each individual however there were usual behavioural changes from people who consumed the drug.
Additionally, a former officer from the Townsville Criminal Investigation branch who was on the scene the night Ms Golding was stabbed took the stand and described finding the hunting knife in a sheath that was in the vacant lot behind the Riverway Dr apartment building.
He also confirmed to the jury he was present at the West End unit that Ms White was found two days after the stabbing.
The jury will return to Townsville Supreme Court on Monday.
TRIAL, DAY THREE
On day three of a trial where Chante Lee White has pleaded not guilty to murdering Kayla Golding and her ex Jamie Alan McAuliffe pleaded not guilty to accessory after the fact, a witness who had been friends with Ms White prior to the stabbing has detailed what happened in the hours afterwards.
When questioned by crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard the woman said she “packed a cone” while facing a mirror inside the Riverway Dr bedroom before Ms White grabbed a knife from the table.
“I put my head down, I was scared sh-tless for my life then I heard a scream,” the woman said.
“I turned around and saw the blood coming out of Kayla’s neck, she had her hand up to her neck and the blood was gushing through her fingers.”
Mr McAuliffe is not accused of killing Ms Golding but it has been alleged he assisted in covering it up to authorities.
The witness told the jury that she, Mr McAuliffe and Ms White went to the man’s apartment before he left again to go clean up at the Riverway Dr unit but returned telling the group “The place was lit up like a Christmas tree”.
‘That’s why my first statement is a lie’ - Witness
The three of them sat in the bedroom discussing what was going to be said in their police statement according to the witness.
“Jamie told me if the police ask me to do a statement, to say I had dosed up on medication”.
“I asked what if police keep asking me questions he said to say ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know’ and that’s why my first statement is a lie.”
Text messages between the witness and Mr McAuliffe were shown to the court from the following day where he had texted her “how are you feeling, I hope your meds warn off”.
Ms Sheppard circled back to the moment the witness claimed she saw Ms White put a knife to her friend’s neck and asked the witness if she saw or heard behaviour from Ms Golding that was aggressive and she answered “no”.
Defence barrister Harvey Walters who is representing Ms White asked the witness about her original statement to police, the day after the alleged stabbing.
“You said ‘I do not know Kayla Golding, I’ve never met her in my life or seen her’ and you signed an oath to say it was true and correct,” he said to the woman.
She replied, “Yes but it was a lied statement, I lied on the statement because I feared for my safety”.
The woman had told the court her second statement to police was the truthful version, which Mr Walters read back to her.
“You told police that you didn’t see Chante White with the knife against that girl’s neck,” he said.
“You told police you were packing a cone and didn’t want to interfere, you had your back turned while packing the cone.
“Now you come to this court on this day and say you actually saw my client Chante White hold the knife near the girl’s neck.”
He suggested to the witness that she had kept changing her evidence to which she disagreed with.
Defence barrister Dane Marley representing Mr McAuliffe in the trial put to the woman that she had not been able to recount what happened on the night in question to the jury and had to rely on her statements.
“You’ve been trying to memorise these statements and commit to things you have told police,” he said.
“I want to suggest to you, your evidence is your best recollection of what you wrote in those statements but not a true recollection of what actually occurred.”
The woman replied, “Because I don’t remember” and said the only events she remembered herself was seeing the blade, seeing Ms Golding bleeding and making a phone call to triple-0.
“So everything else is words you have memorised from a piece of paper?” Mr Marley asked.
“Yes because that’s what I was told to do,” she said.
The trial will resume Friday morning in Townsville Supreme Court.
TRIAL, DAY TWO
A man who lived on the floor below a woman on trial for allegedly killing her friend has broken down in tears while providing his evidence, sharing his harrowing recount of the night in question.
On day two of a trial where Chante Lee White has pleaded not guilty to murder and Jamie Alan McAuliffe pleaded not guilty to accessory after the fact, witnesses have described hearing a scream before seeing a body laying in a driveway.
Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard has alleged Ms White stabbed Kayla Golding in the neck with a knife at a Riverway Drive unit before the woman bled out in the driveway.
A man who lived beneath the apartment took the stand on Wednesday morning and told the jury he had a conversation with Ms White prior to Ms Golding’s death, where she said “I’ll kill Kayla, the c--t” and when the man asked why she replied, “because she smokes all my yandi”.
On the day of the fatal stabbing, the man said he saw Ms Golding and had invited her to have drinks with himself and his former girlfriend however she declined.
Ms Sheppard questioned the man on what he heard later that night.
“I heard a gargling for help,” he said.
“I could hear it from my balcony. It was muffled, it was not clear but I heard the word help.”
He described seeing Ms Golding laying face down in the driveway, and started to cry as he told the jury that it wasn’t until he told his girlfriend he could see someone that they realised it was the woman.
Defence barrister Harvey Walters who is representing Ms White cross-examined the man and suggested she never said she was going to kill Ms Golding for smoking her “yandi”.
“You’re Indigenous aren’t you?” the lawyer asked the man to which he said yes.
“Yandi is an Indigenous term for marijuana, Ms White’s not Indigenous is she?”
The man replied, “No she ain’t”.
Mr Walters said, “I put it firmly to you that Ms White never used these words”.
“I put it firmly to you she did,” the man replied.
Mr Walters brought up the man’s history in drug use and asked if he was using ice which the man agreed to.
The man’s ex who was also at the unit at the time of the stabbing took the stand and told the jury about the moment she discovered Ms Golding’s body in the driveway.
“(The man) said ‘quick give me the keys I swear I can hear someone saying help’, I went out with him to have a look and realised it was Kayla straight up,” the woman said.
Defence barrister Dane Marley who is representing Mr McAuliffe questioned the woman about where her ex was at the time it’s alleged Mr McAuliffe drove off from the building and suggested the couple were inside at that point.
“I suggest when the car screeched off (the man) was inside with you,” Mr Marley said to which she disagreed.
The jury is scheduled to hear from another witness who was in the room at the time of the alleged fatal stabbing when the trial resumes Thursday morning in Townsville Supreme Court.
TRIAL, DAY ONE
The woman who is accused of stabbing and killing a person she once called a friend has pleaded not guilty to the young woman’s murder, alongside a man who has pleaded not guilty to helping her avoid police following the alleged brutal death.
It’s alleged that Chante Lee White, 32, fatally stabbed Kayla Lee Golding in the neck on May 21, 2021 in the bedroom of her Riverway Drive apartment after accusing the woman of messaging her boyfriend Jami Alan McAuliffe.
Mr McAuliffe, 42, is accused of helping Ms White cover it up however it is not alleged he was involved in killing Ms Golding.
Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard opened the trial on Tuesday afternoon and alleged Ms White argued with Ms Golding before she pulled out a hunting knife and left a wound 86mm in length and “at least 3cm” deep.
“Police and ambulance officers arrived, Ms Golding was observed laying on the driveway face down,” Ms Sheppard told the jury.
“A pool of blood was observed around her upper body.”
She said the Townsville woman was transported to Townsville University Hospital and declared deceased shortly after 8:50pm.
The crown showed an image of the crime scene to the jury and said they would hear from residents who lived at the apartment building who saw Ms Golding stagger outside of the complex to the end of the driveway.
“Once she reached that final location, she no longer moved,” Ms Sheppard said.
“The crown alleges that Ms White inflicted that fatal stab wound to the left side of Ms Golding’s neck and she did so to someone she said was a friend.
“It was a deliberate act and at the time she inflicted the wound to her neck she intended to kill her or at least cause her grievous bodily harm.”
Mr McAuliffe who sat beside Ms White in the dock, but did not engage with one another, is alleged to have helped clean up Ms Golding’s blood in the apartment after the alleged stabbing.
“Mr McAuliffe directed a critical witness to provide a false statement to police as to what occurred,” Ms Sheppard said.
“He assisted Ms White in hiding from police until they were apprehended on May 23, 2021.”
The jury were told the defendant was found by police hiding at a West End apartment.
Ms Sheppard told the jury they would hear from a range of witnesses that included associates of the defendants, neighbours, officers involved in the investigation and a woman who was in the bedroom at the time of the alleged fatal stabbing.
The crown said it’s expected that a key witness will reveal Ms White confronted Ms Golding about messaging Mr McAuliffe and said “I’ll bash you right here now, I have a knife” before holding the knife to the woman’s neck.
Ms White is represented by Harvey Walters instructed by Rennick Lawyers and Mr White is represented by Dane Marley instructed by Legal Aid Queensland.
The trial which is expected to go for six days will be in the hands of six female and six male jurors and held before Justice David North in Townsville Supreme Court.
His Honour warned the jury that the proceedings were in fact a retrial in which “none of the parties had control over”.
The trial will resume Wednesday morning.
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