Shandee’s Story podcast: Relentless pursuit: dogged defence lawyer dug deep to defend accused killer
He’s the determined criminal defence lawyer police would hire if they were in trouble - and over 12 days he demolished the Crown case in the Shandee Blackburn murder trial.
He’s the determined criminal defence lawyer whom police on the Shandee Blackburn murder investigation admit they would turn to if they found themselves in trouble.
Craig Eberhardt was a barrister in relentless form when he joined John Peros’s corner for the champion amateur boxer’s 2017 trial for Blackburn’s murder and over 12 days demolished the crown case.
The lawyer’s undermining and at times ferocious questioning of key witnesses features across two new episodes of investigative podcast series Shandee’s Story.
Central to the police and prosecution’s case was a trio of Mr Peros’s friends who spent Australia Day 2013 with him in Mackay, the sugar and mining town on Queensland’s central coast.
It was just two weeks before Blackburn was stabbed to death walking home from work, and Nicole Hutchinson, Sharlene Perry and Liam Aleman gave accounts of him speaking with venomous hatred about his former girlfriend. “I would love to stab the c..t,” Mr Aleman recalled Mr Peros saying.
To corroborate and firm up their evidence, police downloaded the contents of their phones, and Mr Eberhardt used their messages about illicit drugs to attack their memory and credibility.
All had told police they were drinking heavily, but Mr Eberhardt suggested they were “off their face” on drugs too.
When Ms Hutchinson said she didn’t use drugs, he homed in on messages she sent Ms Perry in the weeks before Australia Day about “lollies” and “little f..kers”.
Mr Eberhardt: “Were you talking about Jaffas … was it confectionery or drugs?”
Ms Hutchinson: “I can’t recall.”
Mr Eberhardt: “Is there any confectionery you could imagine describing as ‘little f..kers’?”
Ms Hutchinson: “No.”
When Mr Aleman entered the witness box, the defence lawyer rattled off a string of his text messages revolving around the supply and highs of various drugs.
Mr Aleman’s memory failed. He couldn’t remember his drug dealing yet could clearly recall Mr Peros’s words about Blackburn.
Mr Eberhardt: “You were selling balls of amphetamine at the time, weren’t you?”
Mr Aleman: “No, I wasn’t.”
Mr Eberhardt: “Can you think of any reason why you might have told Sharlene Perry: ‘Wait till next weekend. Getting a ball’?
“Were you talking about a soccer ball, for example?”
When Ms Perry gave evidence, the lawyer suggested sometimes people said things they didn’t mean. He was setting up that even if Mr Peros did say he wanted to stab Blackburn, he didn’t meant it.
He cited Ms Perry’s Facebook post from January 28, 2013, where she wrote: “I just want to rip faces off f..king heads.”
He also raised that Ms Perry was having trouble with her teenage daughter at the time.
Mr Eberhardt: “You sent a text message to Nicki Hutchinson: ‘I’m ready to f..king smash her today. F..king done with her selfishness’?”
Ms Perry: “I don’t recall it, but I accept it.”
Mr Eberhardt: “You had no intention of ‘f..king smashing her?’ ”
Ms Perry: “No.”
At the end of the trial’s first week, judge Jim Henry flagged possible disruption from developing Cyclone Debbie. On that weekend, Mr Eberhardt got stuck in to help the local community, his goodwill gesture making the local press – and reaching the jurors.
“When the state is hit by weather events, Queenslanders roll up their sleeves and give each other a hand,” a news article reported at the time.
“That … was on display on Sunday as residents turned out at Shakespeare St to make sandbags in preparation for Cyclone Debbie. Among those was Craig Eberhardt, from Brisbane, who was there not to prepare sandbags for himself but for others.”
Mr Eberhardt was last week awarded silk, becoming a QC.
Shandee’s Story is an investigation by The Australian’s Hedley Thomas. Episode 11, Lollies, is available to subscribers.
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