Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden: Disgusting name alleged murder victim had for ex-councillor stepson revealed in court
Shocking details in the case against a former Gold Coast councillor accused of murdering his stepfather have been revealed as his case is committed to the Supreme Court. Read what happened here.
Police & Courts
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The stepfather allegedly murdered by former Gold Coast city councillor Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden had nicknamed his accused killer ‘c —k gobbler’ in his mobile phone contacts, a court has heard.
Mr Bayldon-Lumsden is charged with the alleged murder of his stepfather Robert Lumsden at their Arundel home on August 23, 2023. He has entered a not guilty plea to the charge.
At a committal hearing in the Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday, the court heard police found searches regarding coercive control had been made on Mr Bayldon-Lumsden’s Google Pixel 7 phone prior to his step-father’s death.
According to information extracted from the phone, the device visited the internet forum Quora, including a page titled: ‘I’m 22 years old and my father still hits me. What should I do?’
The day before the alleged murder, Bayldon-Lumsden’s phone was used to search for ‘escaping domestic violence and coercive control’, ‘coercive control and the law rights of women’, and visited the White Ribbon website’s hotline page.
The court heard information from Mr Lumsden’s phone had also been downloaded, revealing Mr Bayldon-Lumsden’s number was saved on his stepfather’s phone under ‘c**k-gobbler’ with Mr Lumsden’s wife’s contact details saved under the name ‘grumpy’.
Barrister Craig Eberhardt, instructed by Behlau Murakami Grant, said his client told police Mr Lumsden had pushed him whereupon he pushed back, causing his stepfather to fall over a cat bowl.
Mr Bayldon-Lumsden told police he restrained his stepfather, who was angry and screaming, in a choke hold from behind.
The pair ended up on a tiled floor, with Mr Lumsden on top of his step-son.
Court documents previously alleged Mr Bayldon-Lumsden tried to perform CPR and rang police, but Mr Lumsden died at the scene.
The court heard from Gold Coast University Hospital’s senior forensic pathologist Dr Rexon Tse, who said Mr Lumsden died sometime after 3pm on the day of the incident.
Mr Eberhardt told the court Mr Lumsden had been complaining of multiple episodes of blackouts, suffered from asthma and chronic cough, and had been diagnosed with dyspnoea.
Dr Tse confirmed these were all symptoms of heart disease.
He also confirmed a person like Mr Lumsden, who was morbidly obese and had a heart weighing 195 grams over the average weight, could in theory go into a cardiac arrhythmia at any time.
Dr Tse told the court Mr Lumsden had a fractured thyroid cartilage.
He initially said the fracture could have only occurred when Mr Lumsden’s heart was beating but later conceded it could have happened during CPR in theory if extremely efficient resuscitation leading to a high amount of pressure was provided.
Mr Eberhardt asked Dr Tse whether the yelling before Mr Lumsden’s fall could account for a psychological stress cardiac arrhythmia occurring.
Dr Tse said it could.
He confirmed it was possible Mr Lumsden falling onto the hard tile surface could count for the abrasion on his elbow and the bruise on his chin.
The court also heard from Dr Julia De Boos, a former forensic medical officer at Gold Coast University Hospital who examined Bayldon-Lumsden six hours after his arrest on August 23, 2023.
She told the court Mr Bayldon-Lumsden had blanching red lines across the back of his neck, blanching redness on the right side of his neck and linear blanching lines on his shoulder.
She said the blanching on Mr Bayldon-Lumsden’s shoulder could be from something dragging across it, or could have occurred by being pressed down upon by the clothes he was wearing.
The court heard Mr Bayldon-Lumsden had a five centimetre abrasion on his outer left arm.
De Boos confirmed the mark was consistent with a fingernail scratch, but could have had other causes, and she couldn’t determine when it occurred.
When asked if Mr Bayldon-Lumsden’s injuries were consistent with the story he told police, Dr De Boos said his injuries were simply not specific.
Magistrate Lisa O’Neill deemed the evidence sufficient and committed Bayldon-Lumsden for trial at the Brisbane Supreme Court.
When asked if he had anything to say, Bayldon-Lumsden stated, “Not guilty your Honour.”
Mr Bayldon-Lumsden was born and raised on the Gold Coast and received a 2009 Queensland Young Volunteer of the Year Award for his work with disabled youth in 2009 when he was 16 years old.
He was the University of Queensland’s youngest pharmacy student and was working as a teacher at The Southport School and a respite carer when he successfully ran in the 2020 Gold Coast council election in the new Division 7.
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