Clinton Wrigley on trial for farmer Jack Carter’s murder in Nyngan

A farmhand allegedly told two associates he repeatedly hit a sleeping central western NSW farmer with a mallet until he died, a jury has heard as his Supreme Court murder trial begins.

Joel Carter was allegedly murdered at his property between Nyngan and Hermidale in 2023.

A truck driver and farm hand allegedly told an associate he had murdered a farmer from central western NSW with several blows to the head from a rubber mallet, then stole and burnt his ute and sold his tools.

Clinton Wrigley has been charged with murder over the death of farmer Joel Carter, 59, on either January 22 or 23, 2023 at Rosehill – a property about 20km from Nyngan, owned by his father Owen.

Wrigley is defending the charge of murder before a jury in the NSW Supreme Court sitting at Dubbo.

At the time, Wrigley was working as a truck driver and farm hand at Neerock – another property next door to Rosehill and also owned by Joel’s father Owen Carter.

The court heard Mr Carter and those at Neerock had a share farming agreement at that time, but that Mr Carter had recently said he was contemplating taking over Neerock’s operations.

Joel Carter.

Deputy senior Crown prosecutor Michelle Swift has told the jury the Crown case is that Wrigley should be found guilty of murder because he told a number of people that he had done it.

“The Crown says Clinton Wrigley said ‘I killed him, did it with a rubber mallet, burned it with the car’,” Ms Swift told the jury.

The sign for the property near Nyngan. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

In a separate in-person conversation with another associate who was yet to hear there had been a possible murder in the area, Wrigley allegedly made yet another admission.

“You know what happened in Nyngan … he was asleep, I just started hitting him on the head, he kept snoring, I kept hitting him … he kept snoring, I was hitting him, brains were flying everywhere,” Wrigley is alleged to have said.

“The cops wanted to put down my dog at Peak Hill so I jumped the fence and did it myself, it was just like that.”

The Crown said a police officer who was working in Peak Hill in 2012 would later give evidence there was an incident in which Wrigley’s dog had been shot by police, but not killed, and that Wrigley had killed the dog by hitting it six or seven times over the head.

The Rosehill property near Nyngan where Joel Carter was residing and ultimately died. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“It is the Crown case that the accused went to Joel Carter’s rural farm residence at Rosehill, between Nyngan and Hermidale, and struck him repeatedly in the head with an unknown implement when Joel Carter was lying in bed and caused his death,” Ms Swift said.

“He then stole and burned the accused’s 2022 white Toyota HiLux ute very close in time to the act that killed Joel Carter.

“The Crown says before burning that ute, he took some of the accused’s tools, which he subsequently sold.”

Joel Carter.

The Crown said she expected the evidence would also canvas issues regarding Mr Carter’s long-term alcohol issues, and some rural crimes that had happened in the area prior to his death including the alleged theft of some quad bikes.

Wrigley’s senior counsel and public defender Nicholas Broadbent said it simply: “He did not kill Joel Carter, let alone assault Joel Carter in any way.”

The court heard Wrigley had left the Neerock property on January 22 to buy ice at the BP in Nyngan – but what happened afterward was “very much in dispute”.

“What the Crown says about what he did, and where he went, is very much in dispute,” Mr Broadbent said.

“He did not kill Joel Carter, he did not steal the HiLux ute, he did not burn it out, he did not steal the tools from Joel Carter.”

Mr Broadbent said Wrigley did come into possession of a rattle gun previously owned by Mr Carter, but not before or immediately after his death.

The trial continues.

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