Key witness told police officer to stop recording, murder trial hears
A woman who claims her Tinder-date slit another man’s throat asked detectives to stop recording after a lengthy talking, a jury has heard.
Police were asked to stop recording by a “scared” witness who claimed her former Tinder-date-turned murder accused had been threatening her, a jury has heard.
This week, the murder trial of Timothy Hunt continued.
The disappearance of Tony Rowe in May 2022 triggered a year-long search which concluded with his remains being found south of Darwin.
This month, Mr Hunt pleaded guilty to Mr Rowe’s manslaughter, but not guilty to his murder.
On Monday morning, Detective Sergeant Sarah Hutchinson gave more evidence on her involvement in piecing together the disappearance of Mr Rowe.
Ms Hutchinson was cross-examined on a ‘re-enactment drive’ which occurred on June 8, 2022 – a couple of weeks after Mr Rowe’s disappearance.
The jury had already watched a video of the re-enactment drive earlier in the trial, which showed Jazmine Shier – Mr Hunt’s Tinder-date – giving Ms Hutchinson a road guide similar to Mr Rowe’s final drive before he was killed.
Ms Hutchinson told the court she remembered Ms Shier’s request at the end of the trip.
“She asked her friend (to) hop out of the car and she also asked us to turn our body-worn video cameras off,” she said.
“She provided us with some information about what happened during a trip to Tennant Creek with Timothy Hunt.”
Asked what Ms Shier said, the detective said the young woman claimed she had been had threatened with a blade.
“(It) was alleged that Timothy had gotten angry, produced a knife, had attempted to stab the tyres of the vehicle she was driving (and) as she was driving away he threw the knife at the car.
“She then took off up the Stuart Highway and then he caught up with her some distance up the highway.”
Asked what her demeanour was like, Ms Hutchinson said it occurred to her the witness was fearful.
“She was scared in my opinion,” she said.
“She didn’t want any of that information on the record.”
The court heard Ms Hutchinson and Ms Shier discussed the prospect of obtaining a domestic violence order, but given Mr Hunt was at that time incarcerated in Queensland it was determined there was “no immediate danger”.
The trial also examined a lengthy interaction which occurred between Ms Hutchinson and Mr Hunt on June 2, 2023, when the pair flew from Brisbane to Darwin together.
Ms Hutchinson, who was recording the interaction, had been dispatched to Brisbane with a colleague after a warrant for Mr Hunt’s arrest had been issued, the jury heard.
Before starting their four hour flight, Ms Hutchinson said the accused was aware that he was being recorded.
“(He) even made a joke about offering to hold the phone closer to our mouths so that we could have a clearer recording on the phone,” she said.
“I think he also pointed to the phone a couple of times and said ‘you’re recording this?’”
