Jayden Moorea, 47, Dan Shearin, to face murder committal hearing over death of Breeana Robinson
A witness says she saw cheerleader Breeana Robinson go “flying past” her window as she fell to her death. It comes as harrowing audio of a Triple-0 call made by the man charged with Ms Robinson’s murder was played at his committal hearing. WARNING: Distressing
Police & Courts
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A former Gold Coast Titans cheerleader was screaming “no, no” as she plunged to her death from a Gold Coast highrise, a court has been told.
Her accused killer, former cruise ship crooner Jayden Moorea, “didn’t seem that upset” and was “focused and calm” after the tragedy, a murder committal heard on Monday.
But the hearing was also played two harrowing Triple-0 calls from an apparently distraught Moorea moments after his partner, Breeana Robinson, fell 11 storeys on to a glass awning.
Moorea, an ex-cruise ship entertainer formerly known as Dan Shearin, 47, was charged with murder after an inquest into Ms Robinson’s death at Southport’s H20 tower in January 2013.
The 21-year-old’s death was initially ruled a suicide, but the state coroner sensationally postponed an inquest and ordered police to reopen the investigation.
That led to Shearin’s dramatic arrest in 2019 after a biomechanics expert concluded the way Breeana fell was consistent with being pushed or thrown rather than someone jumping to their death.
About 200 witnesses, including former cheerleaders and Moorea’s ex-girlfriends, will give evidence at the two-week committal hearing.
Witnesses on the first day of the hearing included H20 residents who told of hearing loud arguments in the days and minutes lead-up to Ms Robinson’s death, followed by screams and a “thud”.
Georgina Hadid said she was having a cigarette on her balcony when she saw Ms Robinson “flying past”.
“I heard her scream ‘no, no’ at the top of her lungs,” Mrs Hadid told the court.
“She was flat on her back facing towards the sky. I’ll never forget it.”
Mrs Hadid said Moorea showed no emotion, except to say: “Bree, Bree I’m here for you.”
“I never saw any emotion from him, sorry,” she told defence barrister Angus Edwards.
“I never saw him distressed. Never.”
Another H20 resident, Alfred Schmetzer, said he came out of his unit at the same time as Moorea who was “not at all” upset and appeared to be “focused and calm”.
“Like, if that was Lisa (Mr Schmetzer’s partner) that went over the balcony, I would have been absolutely in a shocking mess,” he said.
But the court heard that Mr Schmetzer and his partner told police that Moorea was panicked and “not all there”, said that Ms Robinson had threatened to jump before and that he could have helped her but it was “too late”.
The court was also played recordings of Triple-0 calls in which a crying Moorea told the operator that his girlfriend had “landed on the glass”.
“I went into the bedroom and she just went over the balcony,” he told the operator.
Moorea also comforted a still-alive Ms Robinson as he waited for paramedics to arrive, the court heard.
Under cross-examination, Mr Schmetzer admitted that he was “not exactly” focused on Moorea’s demeanour.
“I was focused on trying to see if the girl was alive,” he said.
EARLIER
Harrowing audio of a triple-0 call made by the man charged with the murder of his cheerleader girlfriend has been played at his committal hearing.
Jayden Moorea, 47, formerly known as Dan Shearin, has been charged with murdering ex-Gold Coast Titans cheerleader Breeana Robinson. He denies the allegations.
Ms Robinson plunged to her death from their 11th floor highrise unit in Southport’s H20 tower in 2013.
The call was made by Moorea after Ms Robinson fell onto a glass awning.
In it, Moorea can be heard crying and telling the ambulance dispatcher ‘we can’t get up there ... her name’s Breeana’.
Moorea’s barrister, Angus Edwards suggested to H20 security guard Gordon Cassidy that Moorea was ‘very upset and distressed’.
Mr Cassidy, who earlier said that Moorea ‘didn’t seem that upset’, agreed that he sounded ‘sort of distressed’ in the Triple 0 call.
He said Ms Robinson was still alive and breathing and ‘sort of laying there, still’.
He got up to the awning and moved Ms Robinson away from broken glass to give CPR.
Mieke Pearce, who was living in the H20 building at the time of the tragedy, told the court she heard “muffled arguing” before Ms Robinson fell to her death.
“It went from arguing to screaming ... she (Ms Robinson) screamed and yelled out ‘no’,” Ms Pierce told the court.
“From what I recall, it all happened very quickly.”
Ms Pierce said she had only lived in the building for five days when she heard arguments coming from Moorea’s unit.
She said she heard “loud raised voices of a male and female” on two to three occasions in the lead-up to the tragedy.
A tearful Ms Pierce told the court she looked over the balcony and saw that Ms Robinson had fallen, and rang Triple 0.
A Channel 7 star has also been called as a witness in the of a former cruise ship crooner accused of throwing his cheerleader girlfriend off a Gold Coast highrise balcony.
Police had initially ruled the 21-year-old’s death a suicide, but the state coroner sensationally postponed an inquest and ordered police to reopen the investigation.
That led to Shearin’s dramatic arrest in 2019 after a biomechanics expert concluded the way Breeana fell was consistent with being pushed or thrown rather than someone jumping to their death.
However, in a tragic twist, the professor who authored the report is now battling a debilitating illness and is unable to give evidence.
Other biomechanics experts now appear on the witness list, along with more than 20 of Breeana’s former cheerleader colleagues and scores of women with romantic links to Shearin.
A list of about 200 witnesses read to the court reveals that Channel 7 reporter Denham Hitchcock will be among those called.
Hitchcock interviewed Moorea for a story for the now defunct Sunday Night show in 2018.
Mr Edwards revealed he would seek a non-publication order on evidence from his client’s former flames about ‘unhappy interactions’ they may have had with him.
Mr Edwards said reporting of the evidence would cause his client ‘significant prejudice’ at his Supreme Court trial.
During the investigation, detectives interviewed women from around the world who had encountered Shearin, a cruise ship singer and entertainer who has written a ‘tell-all’ book about his version of Breeana’s death where he claimed to watch her fall from the balcony as he sat in a bedroom.
Almost 200 witnesses have given statements to police with about half listed to give evidence at the hearing, which starts almost eight years after Breeana’s death.
Though not as common as in days gone by, committal hearings an opportunity for the local court to assess whether the prosecution has made out a prima facie case against the accused.
It is where both sides are given the opportunity to test evidence.
Magistrates also have the power to drop charges at the committal stage.
Breeana, a beautiful young woman who was legally blind, met Shearin, 20 years her senior, in 2012.
They lived together for only 38 days before her traffic death.
Shearin’s defence lawyer, high-profile Gold Coast legal eagle Chris Hannay, said it was an extremely complex case.
“We have a substantial number of witnesses and some very technical evidence such as biomechanical reports,” he said.
“Hopefully we can have it concluded within the two weeks.”
Breeana’s aunt Janine Mackney, who spent years campaigning for the investigation to be reopened, said she was anxiously awaiting the hearing.
“It has been a very long eight years just to get to this stage,” she said.
Ms Mackney and other members of Ms Robinson’s family are expected to attend every day of the hearing.
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