Inquest: Crayfish farm manager denies involvement in death of Jeffrey Brooks

A man giving evidence at the inquest into the death of a young man at a crayfish farm south of Brisbane has asked the coroner to intervene as he was questioned by a barrister.

A farm manager accused of involvement in the death of Jeffrey Brooks has rejected that he killed the young scientist, telling a coroner the theory was “ridiculous”.

Former Beenleigh Crayfish Farm manager Johannes Geiger refuted that tensions were high on the day the 24-year-old died, saying the staff enjoyed coffee and cookies together the last time Jeffrey was seen alive.

Mr Geiger, known as Hans, said a jovial Mr Brooks was imitating the cookie monster in the office of the Beenleigh Crayfish Farm where they worked just hours before his body was discovered on the property with a gunshot wound.

The inquest has previously heard tensions on the struggling farm had been high with an ongoing dispute between Mr Brooks and farm manager Mr Geiger and his wife Regine and another farm hand Graeme Lloyd.

A coroner is looking into the circumstances surrounding the death of Jeffrey Brooks.

Mr Geiger was compelled to give evidence in the Brisbane Coroners Court on Tuesday and has disputed he had problems with the promising young scientist.

He said on the morning of the fatal shooting, the four were in the office of the crayfish farm and spirits were high, despite the staff having earlier been given redundancy letters and warned the farm was closing.

“We had a happy atmosphere there and Jeffrey he ate the cookies and imitated Cookie Monster from Sesame Street and then he walked out of the door …,” Mr Geiger said.

“He walked out, I don’t know where he went and then I made myself ready for town.”

Mr Geiger says he was “in town” running errands during the period it is believed Jeffrey died.

Counsel assisting the coroner Sarah Lane directly asked Mr Geiger if he was involved in the killing of Mr Brooks.

“No, nobody killed him,” Mr Geiger said.

“Nobody on the farm had a reason to kill him and it’s just propaganda.”

Ms Lane asked: “Are you saying to the court you don’t know of anybody who might have been involved in killing or hurting Jeffrey”.

“No nobody, and how would it happen,” Mr Geiger said.

“It’s ridiculous.”

Mr Geiger blamed Jeffrey for his death.

“I can tell you who drove him in this position that he neglected the danger of the shotgun,” he said.

Johannes Geiger arrives at court in Brisbane. Picture: Sarah Marshall/NewsWire

“He was not concentrating at this time it was too much on his plate as you call it and he failed to be careful with the gun.

“That’s all what I can say to this. Nobody wanted Jeffrey … he was no danger for us. He wouldn’t know how to operate the farm so he couldn’t take over.”

Mr Geiger refuted that he considered Jeffrey a threat.

“No he doesn’t know the pump, the irrigation and everything, he had no idea from this,” he said.

“He’s not a threat.”

In a tense exchange, it was put to Mr Geiger by a barrister for the Brooks family that he had murdered Jeffrey, shooting him while he was standing on the top of a crayfish dam and Jeffrey was beneath him by the water.

Mr Geiger asked the coroner to intervene to stop him being “accused of murder”.

“This murder doesn’t exist,” Mr Geiger said.

When asked whether he murdered Jeffrey and then conspired with his then-wife Regin Geiger and farm hand Graeme Lloyd to cover it up, Mr Geiger responded “excuse me your honour but he is silly”.

Coroner MacKenzie instructed Mr Geiger to answer the question, saying it was a “yes or no” response.

Mr Geiger attempted to blame “evil spirits” for Jeffrey’s death, claiming he had been “used as a spy” by managers at the farm to report back about goings on at the property.

“He was influenced by I call it evil spirits to do what he doesn’t want to do what he doesn’t (sic) brought up to do,” Mr Geiger said.

He said he believed Jeffrey was an “innocent young man” who had been used in an “evil way” as a “spy” by the farm directors.

Mr Geiger claimed because of that, Jeffrey was under a lot of stress and not thinking clearly when he grabbed the loaded shotgun barrel first which discharged.

Mr Geiger has now finished giving evidence and his ex wife, who now goes by Regin Kjellerup, has taken the stand.

During her evidence, Mrs Kjellerup declared “I have nothing to hide” when Coroner MacKenzie laid out her legal options in relation to claiming privilege against self incrimination.

Jeffrey Brooks

He said she could refuse to answer questions if they might incriminate her, warning she was about to be questioned about potential involvement in a homicide.

“Me?,” Mrs Kjellerup asked.

“Yes, you,” the coroner told her.

Mrs Kjellerup opted to continue to answer all questions in open court, saying “I just want to give my knowledge but I know I’m telling the truth.”

When asked about Jeffrey’s final day, Mrs Kjellerup corroborated her ex-husband’s evidence that the scientist seemed in good spirits and had imitated the Cookie Monster.

“He left the room laughing because we both were joking,” she said of the last time she saw him.

Mrs Kjellerup recalled hearing a gunshot about 2pm that day.

She said she was with Mr Lloyd at the time and he commented “What is that silly bugger up again (sic)”.

She said she believed Mr Geiger was in the office at the time. In his evidence he denied hearing any gunshots that day.

The court heard a neighbour also reported hearing a gunshot at 3.10pm that day.

Mrs Kjellerup said she was in the house at the time watching television and she did not hear it.

Records show Mr Lloyd called an ambulance at 3.30pm after discovering Jeffrey’s body.

Mrs Kjellerup said her then-husband was not at home around the time the second gunshot was heard but conceded she did not know where he was.

The coroner has heard evidence that the safety-conscious Jeffrey had refused to use the dangerous old farm shotgun, and as such his employer purchased him a double barrel shotgun for use on the farm.

Mrs Kjellerup claimed that after being given the newer, safer gun, Jeffrey continued to use the old unsafe gun “very often”.

“I asked him once why do you use the old gun and he said they have a better, how do you say it, spray to hit the target,” she said.

Ms Lane asked Mrs Kjellerup whether she had anything to do with Jeffrey’s death, she responded “no”.

She also denied knowing anyone else had been involved in his death and reiterated that she had told the police and courts everything she knew.

She said she was not “covering up” for Mr Geiger, Mr Lloyd or anyone else.