Keith ‘Lumpy’ Waldock denies feeling guilty over Tony Rowe killing led to silence in Timothy Hunt murder trial
A man who has swum with crocs and sharks told a Territory jury that he has never been more afraid than when he faced a Darwin truckie who allegedly slit his mate’s throat.
A man who kept silent for 12 months after allegedly witnessing his mate’s brutal debt murder has told a jury he had “nothing to be guilty about”.
On Wednesday, Keith ‘Lumpy’ Waldock told a Supreme Court jury he witnessed 28-year-old Darwin truckie Timothy Hunt slice open the neck of his long-term friend Tony Rowe on a darkened road near the Robertson Barracks.
Mr Hunt has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the 36-year-old fisheries worker, but maintained it was not a murder as he did not intend to kill Mr Rowe during the drug debt bashing on May 28, 2022.
But Mr Waldock said Mr Rowe’s death was not due to an assault, alleging Mr Hunt used “shears” to snip off the bashed man’s toe before slicing his throat.
The jury has heard Mr Hunt’s Tinder date, Jazmine Shier, helped him move and burn the body, before cleaning down his car.
It took investigators a year to find Mr Rowe’s skeletal remains in May 2023.
Mr Waldock told the jury he cried every time he saw Mr Rowe’s mother during the 12-month search for her son, despite never disclosing to police what he knew from that night.
The then 41-year-old said he was too scared of Mr Hunt to go to police, with his terror on the night causing him to urinate.
“You don’t know the fear and sh*t that man put into me,” Mr Waldock said.
“Mate, no one has made me piss myself. I’ve swum with sharks and crocs from where I’m from, and that doesn’t fear me.
“But when you see something like that... I wish you were in my shoes.”
Three years after Mr Rowe’s death, Mr Waldock told the jury: “I’m still in fear now”.
But on Wednesday, defence barrister Marty Aust said it was Mr Waldock’s guilt that ensured his silence as police searched for his missing mate.
“Guilt is different to fear, Mr Waldock,” Mr Aust said.
“I’ve got nothing to be guilty about mate,” he replied.
Ms Shier alleged both Mr Waldock and Mr Hunt took turns beating Mr Rowe on the dark, empty road for 20 minutes.
The jury has heard allegations the two men blamed Mr Roe for losing them $10,000 after he failed to pick up drugs for their planned “weed run”.
Mr Aust accused Mr Waldock of taking part in the fatal beating to force Mr Rowe to unlock his phone so they could access his criminal contacts.
But on Wednesday he maintained he went to his drunk, slumped over mate and only “slapped him and shook him around”.
“He didn’t get beat to death mate,” Mr Waldock told Mr Aust.
“I had no thing to hurt Tony. Tony is me mate.”
Mr Waldock said he was well-paid as a fisho and had no interest in getting involved in Mr Rowe’s remote cannabis plots and had no need for his phone.
“I know heaps of dealers,” he said.
“I can get f**king good sh*t, pure stuff down at the wharf mate.
“Why would I want to get something that’s been cut and jumped on from some Asian bloke who’s got this one’s money?”
Mr Waldock said while he was involved in similar operations “in my younger days”, he did not want to get in trouble with drugs again.
Mr Aust revealed to the jury Mr Waldock had 80 prior convictions, including drug related offending, aggravated assault, making threats to kill and breaching court orders.
“People change. I’ve changed, I’ve been out sea. That’s a life changing job,” Mr Waldock said.
While Ms Shier said she had been smoking cannabis that night, Mr Waldock told the jury she and Mr Hunt were using methamphetamines.
“You don’t smoke ganja in a glass pipe,” he said.
While Mr Waldock said he did not use ice heavily, he used a “tiny bit” that night to “sober up” after “being pressured into it”.
The trial continues on Thursday.
