‘The angle doesn’t hold up:’ defence claims key witness as shooter in Parrott murder trial

Accused murderer Nicholas Cross and his defence put up a final fight during closing arguments. Here’s what they said.

The mysterious trial into Maddison Parrott’s death has taken another turn with the defence alleging all evidence points to a key witness being the shooter.

In his closing submissions on Tuesday, defence lawyer Glenn Casement told the Victorian Supreme Court that a witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was the real killer based on the evidence presented before the court.

The witness who was in the tent where Ms Parrott was murdered along with the accused- Nicholas Cross, claimed to have been on the phone at the time of the incident however phone records show otherwise.

Victim Maddison Parrott. Picture: Facebook

The court previously heard allegations that an argument broke out between the accused and Ms Parrott on the morning of December 3, 2018 at the Geelong Showgrounds, before Mr Cross fatally shot her.

Mr Casement said physical evidence indicated that the bullet travelled downwards on a 45-degree angle entering the right side of the victim’s forehead just above her eyebrow.

He stated that the witness who is taller than the accused would be better placed to achieve the downward shot, while the positioning of those in the tent “sealed the deal.”

Mr Casement said the witness claimed on several occasions that Mr Cross and the victim were standing facing each other when the accused drew the weapon at shoulder height before firing.

In a diagram provided by the witness, it was claimed that the accused held the gun in his right hand, with Mr Casement stating it makes the shot “nothing short of an impossibility.”

In the evidence, the witness put himself on the scene as looking at the victim’s right side and claimed she fell backwards after being struck by the bullet.

The accused Nicholas James Cross.

“He would have to be holding the gun above the point of entry – you don’t need to be an expert to work that out. The angle doesn’t hold up,” he said.

He went on to say that a taller man “holds a gun to a much smaller person, that is how you get that angle.”

“If he is right and she did fall backwards, her feet would be closest to him (the defendant) and her head further away. The deceased fell towards Nick, not away,” he said.

Mr Casement further alleges that sometime after the shooting, the witness asked to return to the tent to kill himself.

He also alleges the witness returned to retrieve items from the tent and applied a new lock.

“We all know he has lied and acted as only a guilty man would,” he said

According to Mr Casement, the witness had told police he “wasn’t mucking around and “wasn’t wasting any time,” when he returned to the tent and that he “didn’t have all the energy in the world” to report the crime sooner.

“Stuck here with a guilty mind … he sits there on the other side of credibility in this trial,” Mr Casement said.

The defence will continue with closing arguments tomorrow.

Originally published as ‘The angle doesn’t hold up:’ defence claims key witness as shooter in Parrott murder trial