Katie Walmsley, son Jayden Walmsley-Hume guilty of Nowra murder

A mother and son have been found guilty of murdering an Indigenous teenager, in what prosecutors described as a revenge plot hit-and-run on the NSW south coast.

Taj Hart, 18, was murdered on February 24, 2022.

A jury has found a mother and son guilty of murdering an Indigenous teenager in what prosecutors described as a revenge plot hit-and-run on the NSW south coast more than two years ago.

The trial of Katie Walmsley and her son, Jayden Walmsley-Hume began in the NSW Supreme Court in Wollongong on July 17, after the Currarong duo pleaded not guilty to murdering 18-year-old Taj Hart in South Nowra in February 2022.

Walmsley also pleaded not guilty to an alternative charge of being an accessory after the fact to murder, which did not ultimately not to be determined.

Weeks after the trial kicked off with opening statements from Crown prosecutor Kate Ratcliffe and defence barristers Sharyn Hall SC and Edward Anderson, the jury has found the duo guilty of Mr Hart’s murder.

The verdicts follow Ms Ratcliffe telling the jury Walmsley-Hume ran down Mr Hart in a Mitsubishi Triton on Old Southern Rd, South Nowra, on February 24, 2022.

The jury was previously shown a map of Old Southern Rd, South Nowra.

The jury heard the hit-and-run was in retaliation for previous violent altercations, which left Walmsley-Hume with animosity and “hatred” toward Mr Hart.

She said Walmsley-Hume had intent to, at the very least, seriously harm the 18-year-old.

The trial lasted four weeks in the NSW Supreme Court in Wollongong.

The jury was also told a witness had heard Walmsley stating “we got him good”, and her son replying “we’ve got to get the f--k out of here”, before they drove away.

Ms Hall told the jury during her closing address last week that her client, Walmsley-Hume, did not murder Mr Hart.

She urged jurors to find him guilty of manslaughter instead, labelling the death an accident.

The barrister said Walmsley-Hume was someone who made “spur of the moment” decisions, arguing this was what happened on the day in question.

Taj Hart was 18 at the time of the murder.

Ms Hall told the jury her client came across Mr Hart while driving the car and decided to confront him.

He drove off the road – which Ms Hall said was to park the car – before she argued the accused changed his mind.

The barrister claimed Walmsley-Hume had considered the consequences of a confrontation before driving back onto the road, accidentally hitting Mr Hart in the process.

Meanwhile, Walmsley’s barrister, Mr Anderson, previously told the jury that in order for his client to be convicted of murder, jurors must believe she made an agreement with her son to kill Mr Hart.

“You would have to accept, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Ms Walmsley, a 37-year-old mother ... with no criminal record at all, and who had never previously done anything toward the deceased and his friends other than yell and spit in a hat, actually agreed during the course of this drive to deliberately drive a dual cab ute at the deceased,” he said.

The jury began deliberating last Friday evening, after Justice Robertson Wright summed up the case.

The jury returned the guilty verdicts on Tuesday morning.

Walmsley-Hume and Walmsley will be sentenced at a later date.

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