Trial rescheduled in Townsville Supreme Court: Chante Lee White pleaded not guilty to murdering Kayla Lee Golding, Jamie Alan Mcauliffe pleaded not guilty to accessory after the fact

A serious murder trial has been rescheduled and will have to begin again with a judge saying it was the ‘best course’ of action.

Kayla Lee Golding.

Kayla Golding TrialJump to Day One

A jury has officially been discharged and a murder trial has been rescheduled following an unforeseen complication that’s put the proceeding on hold.

On Thursday in Townsville Supreme Court, Justice David North advised a jury they were “free to leave” after they were empanelled earlier in the week.

His Honour said a defence barrister had unfortunately experienced a “medical episode” on Tuesday evening and had to be hospitalised, requiring further treatment that would see him stay in hospital at least until the weekend.

“It’s quite clear there can be no certainty we can resume the trial on Monday and finish it in the time allocated without causing great disruption to the lists and also inconvenience yourselves,” he said.

The trial involved two defendants, Chante Lee White who pleaded not guilty to murdering Kayla Lee Golding and Jamie Alan Mcauliffe who pleaded not guilty to accessory after the fact, and was set to run for five to seven days.

“This is a serious trial involving a complicated issue of fact and law,” His Honour told the jury.

“It would take quite a deal of time for a barrister to pick the matter up, work it up and prepare to represent the defendant.

“The best course – it’s regrettable – is to discharge you as the jury.”

Justice North also thanked the jurors for their time, attention and patience.

The trial has been rescheduled to October 8 in Townsville Supreme Court.

Ms White was remanded in custody and yelled back to her family ‘love you’ as she exited the courtroom through to the watch house.

Mr Mcauliffe’s bail was enlarged.

TRIAL ADJOURNED DUE TO MEDICAL COMPLICATION

What was supposed to be day three of a major murder trial has been an adjournment due to medical complications with a legal counsellor.

Justice David North addressed the jury in Townsville Supreme Court on Wednesday morning sharing that a counsellor had a “medical episode” and was in hospital and could not be present.

“This is a major trial, it’s not a case that even the most experienced counsellor could just pick up on the run,” he said.

“We have to adjourn for one day hopefully, we can resume tomorrow.”

The trial that was set to run for five to seven days has followed Chante Lee White who pleaded not guilty to murdering Kayla Lee Golding, and Jamie Alan Mcauliffe who pleaded not guilty to accessory after the fact.

More than a dozen of Ms Golding’s family and friends have gathered in the public gallery each day of the proceedings.

The trial has been adjourned to Thursday, June 6 at 10am.

DAY TWO OF THE TRIAL

A woman who was friends with the person accused of murdering their friend at a unit has taken to the stand and told a jury about the moments leading up to a Townsville woman’s horrifying death.

Chante Lee White has pleaded not guilty to murdering Kayla Lee Golding and Jamie Alan Mcauliffe has pleaded not guilty to accessory after the fact in Townsville Supreme Court.

On Tuesday afternoon the trial resumed with a woman providing evidence as someone who was friends with Ms White and was allegedly in the room the night of the alleged offending.

She said Mr Mcauliffe left the Condon unit when a fight broke out between Ms White and Ms Golding in a bedroom, as the witness herself was “chopping weed”.

She told the jury Ms White said “what a coincidence, you messaging my man” to Ms Golding.

Ms Golding allegedly replied, “You’re not being serious now”.

“Yes I’m being serious,” Ms White allegedly said.

Ms Golding allegedly replied, “What are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to bash you right here, right now,” Ms White said, according to the witness.

Kayla Golding

She said Ms White grabbed a hunting knife from her desk as the witness put her head down and “packed a cone”.

“I saw the knife on Kayla’s neck, a couple of seconds later I heard a scream,” the witness said.

“I saw Kayla’s hand on the side of her neck and I saw blood gushing down and through her fingers.”

The witness told the jury Ms White was no longer in the room and Ms Golding had made her way down stairs and onto the driveway before she called triple-0.

The jury was told that Mr Mcauliffe made his way back to the unit during the emergency services phone call and was seen by the witness cleaning blood off the walls, before he, Ms White and the witness got into his car.

“(Ms White) whispered to me, ‘hang up’,” the woman said.

She told the jury they drove past Ms Golding’s body that still lay in the driveway face down.

After arriving at Mr Mcauliffe’s Nathan Street home, the witness told the jury that Ms White told her to turn her mobile on Airplane mode and snap her SIM card, which she obliged.

She said she asked Mr Mcauliffe what to say when she was to be interviewed by police and he advised her to say that she doesn’t remember and “dosed up on medication”.

The jury was told the group went over to McDonalds and at some point in the night Ms White said she was sorry for bringing the woman into this, before Mr Mcauliffe called her a taxi and she went home.

The trial which is being held before His Honour Justice David North will resume on Wednesday morning.

EARLIER ON DAY TWO OF THE TRIAL

Friends and associates who had been in contact with a woman in the days before she allegedly stabbed her friend in the neck, have taken to the stand on day two of the trial.

Chante Lee White has pleaded not guilty to murdering Kayla Lee Golding, and Jamie Alan Mcauliffe has pleaded not guilty to accessory after the fact.

In Townsville Supreme Court on day two of the trial, a man who lived in the same unit complex the alleged stabbing occurred took to the stand as he claimed he had a conversation with Ms White three days earlier.

“She was having a bong in her bedroom,” he said.

“She mumbled to me that she was going to kill Kayla.”

Defence barrister Harvey Walters instructed by Rennick Lawyers is representing Ms White throughout the trial and highlighted the man had not mentioned Ms White was smoking marijuana in his initial statement to police which he agreed after revising his report.

The man said during the conversation with Ms White he asked her why she wanted to ‘kill Kayla’ and she replied ‘she smokes all my yandi’.

Mr Walters suggested Ms White had never said that as ‘yandi’ was used an Indigenous term for marijuana and Ms White was not Indigenous Australian.

“I’d suggest it wasn’t a term she used,” Mr Walters said.

“That’s your suggestion,” the man replied.

Chante Lee White

The man was further questioned by barrister Dane Marley instructed by Legal Aid Queensland who is representing Mr Mcauliffe.

He questioned the man on whether or not he saw Mr Mcauliffe’s blue car leave the unit complex the night of the alleged stabbing and put to him that he only heard the car and didn’t see it.

“You made up the direction you said the car went because you were inside your unit when it left the complex,” Mr Marley said.

“No I disagree,” the man replied.

The man’s partner, who didn’t live at the complex at the time but was visiting the night of the alleged stabbing, took to the stand next.

The jury was told the woman was friends with Ms Golding and saw her in the hours leading up to her death.

When questioned by crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard the woman said she heard what she thought was Ms Golding yell out her name from the unit above, and was waiting for her to come knock on their door – but she never did.

“(My partner) came in and said there’s something going on outside, I went out with him on the balcony and I saw Kayla straight away, I said ‘that’s Kayla’,” the woman said.

The witness was also questioned by Mr Walters and told him when she saw Ms Golding in the hours before the alleged stabbing she seemed “scattered”.

A woman who was in the room where the alleged stabbing occurred will take to the stand next when the jury returns Tuesday afternoon.

DAY ONE OF THE TRIAL

The family and friends of a Townsville woman who was allegedly fatally stabbed in the driveway of a unit complex sat in the busy courtroom as the trial for her alleged murderer began.

It has been alleged by crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard that on May 21, 2021 Kayla Lee Golding was stabbed in the neck with a knife by Chante Lee White, 32, at a Riverway Drive unit complex in Condon after Ms White accused the woman of messaging her boyfriend, Jamie Alan Mcauliffe.

In Townsville Supreme Court on Monday morning, Ms White pleaded not guilty to one count of murder while Mr Mcauliffe, 42, pleaded not guilty to assisting Ms White in avoiding police punishment knowing she had killed someone.

Stabbing at unit complex on Riverway Drive, Condon. Picture: Evan Morgan

It is not alleged that Mr Mcauliffe had any involvement in killing Ms Golding.

On day one of the trial, Ms Sheppard told the jury she would allege that Ms Golding was stabbed with a hunting knife in the defendant, Ms White’s bedroom after an argument broke out between them regarding Ms Golding messaging the defendant’s boyfriend, Mr Mcauliffe.

The man is alleged to have driven Ms White away from the unit after the alleged stabbing, as well as attempting to convince a witness to provide a false statement to police, and allegedly returned to the unit to clean the blood.

Jamie Mcauliffe.

“Ms Golding was lying in the driveway face down with a pool of blood observed around her head and body,” Ms Sheppard told the jury.

“An autopsy conducted on May 23, 2021 determined she died as a consequence of a sharp force wound to the neck that was 86mm in length.”

Defence barrister Harvey Walters is instructed by Rennick Lawyers and will represent Ms White, while barrister Dane Marley instructed by Legal Aid Queensland will represent Mr Mcauliffe.

The prosecution plans to call upon more than 30 witnesses to provide evidence which includes residents who lived at the unit complex and heard the screams of Ms Golding, associates known to not only the victim but Ms White and Mcauliffe, as well as first responders and forensic scientists involved in the investigations.

The crown said that Ms White was found hiding in the cupboard of a West End home two days after the alleged stabbing and that when interviewed by police she and Mr Mcauliffe told them they had “no involvement” in the circumstances surrounding Ms Golding’s death.

“Ms White told police she simply blacked out and could not tell them what happened,” the crown said.

“Mr Mcauliffe said he didn’t know Ms Golding and didn’t see her on the driveway as he drove out of the complex.

“Their interviews were littered with lies.”

It’s also expected that in the coming days the jury will hear evidence from an undercover police officer who was placed in a holding cell with Ms White and the two had a conversation where she accepted she killed Ms Golding.

Ms Sheppard also said the jury could expect to hear evidence from another person who had been behind bars and heard Ms White bragging that she would only be charged with manslaughter and not murder.

Chante White (left) was pictured with Kayla Golding (right) days before police allege White stabbed her at Condon.

Ms Sheppard said she would also call upon a woman who was in the bedroom at the time of the alleged stabbing and who was allegedly urged by Mr Mcauliffe to lie to police and tell them she couldn’t remember what happened when she was to inevitably provide a statement.

The first person the crown called to take the stand was a man who lived above Ms White at the Riverway Drive units, and described what he heard on the Friday night of the alleged offending.

He said he was sitting on his balcony waiting for the football to start when he heard “a big scream, a howl and a gurgling sound”.

“I knew it was below us, it was a shocking scream,” he said.

“I jumped up and went to the railing to see what was going, all of a sudden someone walked out – a young lady, and she fell face down.”

The man said he called triple-0 before he saw a “little blue” car drive out from the car park of the units, and it manoeuvred around the body which the jury knew was Ms Golding.

During cross examination, Mr Walters asked the man if he had been at a party prior to the alleged offending, to which the man agreed and said he had one beer.

Mr Marley also cross examined the man and suggested that the blue car drove in a straight line, however the man disagreed and said it “curved around” the legs of Ms Golding.

A jury consisting of seven men and five women were empaneled, as well as three reserves before Justice David North – the trial is expected to run for five to seven days and will resume Tuesday morning.

Originally published as Trial rescheduled in Townsville Supreme Court: Chante Lee White pleaded not guilty to murdering Kayla Lee Golding, Jamie Alan Mcauliffe pleaded not guilty to accessory after the fact