Farmhand’s killer twist in Jeffrey Brooks case
THE farmhand at the centre of the Jeffrey Brooks investigation has revealed he now believes the young scientist could have been murdered and thinks it’s possible he was “set up” as the likely suspect by whoever shot the 24-year-old.
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THE farmhand at the centre of the Jeffrey Brooks investigation has revealed he now believes the young scientist could have been murdered and thinks it’s possible he was “set up” as the likely suspect by whoever shot the 24-year-old.
The man, who found Jeffrey’s body in a car at the farm, denies having anything to do with the death and claims he did not hear the fatal gunshot.
But he said he had never got over Jeffrey’s death and believed there could be more to it than he initially thought.
His explosive revelations and decision to come forward were sparked by the release of The Courier-Mail’s exclusive True Crime podcast Dead Wrong.
LISTEN TO DEAD WRONG NOW
“There’s more to this, I think,” he said, after following the newspaper’s investigation into Jeffrey’s 1996 death.”
The farmhand questioned whether someone had been trying to set him up to take the fall for Jeffrey’s death.
“Bloody hell … (it’s) scary to think about,” he said. “I was the only one at the shed at the time and I was the one that found Jeffrey.”
Police determined Jeffrey’s death at the Beenleigh Crayfish Farm more than 20 years ago was an accident. Investigators found the experienced shooter, who was meticulous about safety, accidentally shot himself with an old single barrel shotgun as he pulled it from a car on the farm. But Jeffrey’s friends and family say he repeatedly told them he would never touch the old firearm because he thought it was unsafe.
He had also told various people he’d uncovered a secret at the farm – the large scale sale of crayfish for cash behind the owners’ backs. The inquest into Jeffrey’s death heard he’d told people he’d confronted his colleagues about it and they’d threatened him – to the extent that he thought they might kill him. The young scientist had gone as far as to borrow a gun from his brother to use for “protection”.
Jeffrey’s family has called for his death to be reinvestigated or for a new coronial inquest to be held.
In an often emotional interview, the farmhand told a different story to the one he gave police in 1996. He said he now considered it possible Jeffrey was murdered and agreed the scientist never would have touched the old shotgun.
Jeffrey and the farmhand worked at the property with a German man who managed the farm, and his wife. The German couple lived in a house on site and the old gun belonged to the German man.
The farmhand described the German man as someone “without emotion” and said he once had to get in between the manager and his wife when an argument became heated.
The farmhand said he was not aware of cash sales at the farm and had been distressed to hear Jeffrey had held such fears for his safety.
“I didn’t know that it got to the extent of that, that he was fearful of his life,” he said. “If I’d known that, I would have told him to get the hell out of the place and don’t come back. It’s not safe. Don’t put yourself in jeopardy like that.’’
The farmhand, who lost his own son several years later, said he wanted Jeffrey’s parents to find the truth behind their son’s death.
“To be quite honest with you, you lose a piece of your heart,” he said. “It just tears that piece out and it’s gone. And you still have that hurt and you carry it with you for the rest of your life.
“I’m really, really sad that they’ve had to suffer this. I wish them all the luck and all the peace in the world that they can have … closure.
“I had closure with my son because I found the reasons why (he died) but they haven’t. And I couldn’t bear that myself … to be left wondering. I really hope something comes out of it (the publicity) actually. I really do.”
The farmhand said on the afternoon Jeffrey died, he had been feeding crayfish in the farm’s 41 ponds. He said the motorised feeder was very loud and could account for not hearing a gunshot at 3.10pm – a shot heard by neighbours 1km away.
He said it wasn’t until he was partway through feeding that he got close enough to spot the farm’s red work ute parked on a strange angle down an embankment.
The farmhand said he initially thought Jeffrey was asleep when he saw him slumped in the car but when he was closer, he noticed something was very wrong.
After placing his hand on Jeffrey’s chest, he raced back to the shed to call for help.
“I often think if I had tried CPR but I didn’t know anything about that then,” he said.
He said he would be very angry if he’d been left to discover the body of a colleague.
He said his routine that afternoon was well known because he took a regular path when doing the feeding.
“If there are other ulterior actions of someone that’s caused me to find Jeffrey, I won’t be happy about that,” the farmhand said.
“I don’t know, sometimes you hear mistakes in the law … and I’m thinking geez, I could wear this. It scares me to think. You work with someone that long, that they could do something like that. Not only to Jeffrey, but to put me in a position where I might be put in a spot of bother.”
The Courier-Mail also approached the farm manager, who adamantly denied he or his wife had anything to do with Jeffrey’s death.
Told that the newspaper had been investigating the circumstances of the shooting, he said: “You are on a lean moment. You have nothing to report.” Asked if Jeffrey’s death was an accident, he replied: “I was not there.”
The Courier-Mail is telling Jeffrey’s story in the true crime podcast Dead Wrong.
Click on the player above to listen here, or download from iTunes or find it on your preferred podcast platform.
Originally published as Farmhand’s killer twist in Jeffrey Brooks case