Warrant issued for man whose body was found chopped up in Esky

POLICE issued a warrant for Campbell Paterson’s arrest when he failed to appear in court. Days later, they found out why.

Murder victim Campbell Paterson who was allegedly murdered by Edmonton man David Leslie Hickson, 32.

POLICE naturally became suspicious when Campbell Paterson didn’t turn up to a Cairns court to face drugs and assault charges.

But even they would not have expected the grisly reason for the New Zealand man having seemingly absconded from court.

Days after a warrant was issued for Mr Paterson’s arrest for failing to appear in court in November last year, his body was found chopped up in pieces and stashed in an Esky in thick bushland.

Detectives made the gruesome discovery on a property in Edmonton, south of Cairns, where Mr Paterson had recently set up his new home.

Police believe Mr Paterson had died about a week beforehand.

But how exactly he met with such a violent end will finally be uncovered when the trial for the man accused of his murder begins next year.

In the Cairns Magistrates Court on Monday, David Leslie Hickson, 33, was ordered to stand trial, with a five-day trial set to begin on March 14.

Hickson was arrested on November 19 last year, soon after Mr Paterson’s body was uncovered, and he was charged with murder and interfering with a corpse.

Police said the accused and his alleged victim were known to each other and associated regularly in Cairns, where Mr Paterson had recently moved.

Mr Paterson was originally from Napier, on New Zealand’s North Island, and made trips home every three or four months to visit his wife and four children, New Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay Today newspaper reported.

As news of his death reached Napier, Mr Paterson’s family said they were struggling to “get to grips” with it.

“We are having a family get together tonight and will be talking about it [among] ourselves,” a family member said.

“It’s obviously very difficult and sad for us right now, especially [for] Campbell’s kids and wife.”

Tributes flowed on social media for the man who they described as kind, gentle and deeply committed to his whanau — a Maori word that means extended family.

They said he was also committed to studying the bible and wore a tattoo on his forehead that read “Jah Rastafari”, a phrase referring to God.

His daughter Elijah wrote she “woke up with so many messages ... Thank you all for the support, strangers, friends, family and many more, thank you.”

Mr Paterson’s family launched a crowd-funding campaign to fund the return of his body to New Zealand, raising almost $5000 “to give him the tangi [funeral] he deserves”, his family said.

The Esky in which Mr Paterson’s dismembered body was stored had been found by police about 100 metres from the nearest road, local area duty officer John Rhodes said told Hawke’s Bay Today.

“[The remains were] found on a stretch that leads off to one of our community missions,” he said.

“It’s not travelled heavily, there would maybe be five cars a day,” he said.

Mr Paterson was never reported missing. Police grew concerned about his whereabouts when he failed to appear in a Cairns court on October 1 and again on October 15, the Cairns Post reported.

“We believed there were some suspicious circumstances around the potential this guy might be missing and we’ve launched it from there,” Cairns regional crime co-ordinator Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar said.

“It really started as something really minor.”

Paterson had been accused of driving under the influence of methamphetamine on September 10, 2014.

Police said Mr Paterson had tried to escape custody as officers tried to escort him to the police station.

He had to be capsicum sprayed and allegedly stabbed one of the officers in the hand with a pen, and was charged with serious police assault, escaping lawful custody, drug driving and unlicensed driving.

He remained in custody for six days before being released on bail pending his October court appearance.

Two weeks after his dismembered body was found, the four charges against Paterson were dropped in a Cairns court after police offered no evidence following his death.

“Accordingly the charges are struck out and Mr Paterson is discharged ... as he is deceased,” Magistrate Robert Spencer said.

Hickson’s five-day trial starts on March 14.