Shane Barker joked about ex-wife Rachel shooting him, murder trial hears

Two friends of a Northern Midlands man shot to death has told a murder trial they both heard the deceased say he was giving his ex-wife’s hunting run a wide berth over fears he would be shot.

Defense lawyer Patrick O'Halloran arrives at the Supreme Court of Tasmania in Launceston for the trial of Cedric Harper Jordan and Noelene June Jordan in relation to the murder of Shane Barker in 2009 at Campbell Town. Picture: Patrick Gee

UPDATED THURSDAY 1.20PM: Alleged Northern Midlands murder victim Shane Geoffrey Barker, 36, told two hunting buddies that if his ex-wife, whose parents have pleaded not guilty to shooting him to death, saw him while out hunting she would “have me in the crosshairs”.

Mr Barker was shot four times on the evening of August 2, 2009, at his 2 East St, Campbell Town residence.

Swansea husband-and-wife Cedric Harper Jordan, 71, and Noelene June Jordan, 68, the parents of Mr Barker’s ex-wife Rachel, are on trial in Launceston Supreme Court.

Witnesses continued to give evidence on Thursday.

Anthony Douglas Gillies and Michael Homes both knew Mr Barker through the trio’s hunting at Windfalls Pastoral on Lake Leake Rd, where Mr Barker and Rachel had both been allocated adjoining hunting runs that shared a boundary.

Both gave evidence they overheard a comment made by Mr Barker at some point following his divorce from Rachel that he steered clear of the shared boundary.

Mr Gillies said that he heard Mr Barker say he “didn’t want to shoot near the Wellwood–Teatree fence because (Rachel would) have me in the crosshairs”.

Under cross-examination by Noelene’s defence counsel Fran McCracken, Mr Gillies agreed that he didn’t take the comment “seriously as a threat”.

Later, Mr Holmes said he remembered Mr Barker’s comment to be something along the lines of being “worried about the... sights or telescopic sight... being put on him from over the boundary fence”.

Mr Holmes told the court Mr Barker had told him the divorce was “messy” and it seemed like Rachel “hated” him.

There is no allegation of wrongdoing against Rachel, who has not been charged with any offence.

It is the Crown case that the defendants were motivated to kill Mr Barker to get him out of the lives of themselves, their daughter and their granddaughter, whom Mr Barker shared with Rachel.

The trial continues on Friday.

EARLIER 2PM WEDNESDAY: A defendant in the murder trial of a Northern Midlands man shot to death in 2009 told an acquaintance that shell casings found at his family shack in the Central Highlands, which the Crown says match a casing found at the murder scene, were planted by police, a court has heard.

Swansea duo Cedric Harper Jordan and Noelene June Jordan have pleaded not guilty to shooting their ex-son in law Shane Geoffrey Barker, 36, to death at his 2 East St, Campbell Town residence on the evening of August 2, 2009.

The first witnesses gave evidence on Wednesday.

Campbell Town woman Linda Evans, who worked with Mr Barker at Ampol Campbell Town previously and also knew his ex-wife Rachel, who left the deceased for another man in May 2007, told the court she bumped into the Jordans after they were charged with his death in 2020 at Swansea, where she had a shack.

Ms Evans said that her conversation with Cedric turned eventually to the case, wherein he became “pretty agitated... quite upset”.

She told the court that Cedric informed her that he believed the casings found at the Jordan family shack at Little Pine Lake had been “planted” by Tasmania Police to incriminate him and his wife.

Last week, Crown prosecutor Daryl Coates, in his opening address, told the jury that ballistics experts would be called to give evidence later in the trial.

He said they would give evidence that the casings discovered at the Little Pine Shack were fired from the same Winchester .22 rifle as that which shot a casing discovered at Mr Barker’s property during the crime scene examination.

The weapon used to kill Mr Barker has never been discovered.

Earlier, defence counsel Patrick O’Halloran cross-examined Tim Hardy, a close friend of Mr Barker’s, on where the deceased, who was the licensed gun dealer for Campbell Town firm Roberts Ltd, stored his firearms.

Mr O’Halloran asked whether he had ever seen the deceased handle a Lithgow .22 rifle with silencer, retrieve or store weapons under his bed, or shoot birds in a tree on his property.

Mr Hardy answered no to all of the above, although did say Mr Barker had complained to him about the birds on his property.

The witness told the jury, “Shane would never do anything wrong (with his guns).”

Ms Evans, the former colleague of Mr Barker’s, did subsequently tell the jury in response to questioning that her late husband, a close friend of Mr Barker’s, gave evidence to police in the wake of the death that he and Mr Barker did occasionally take pot shots at birds from the front deck.

The trial continues on Thursday.

EARLIER, 11.30AM WEDNESDAY: The identity of the person who shot to death a Northern Midlands father in 2009, the absence of the weapon used to shoot him, and the reliability of evidence given 14 years after the event are the three “headline issues” for a murder trial’s jury to consider, a defence barrister has told a court.

The defence for Swansea duo Cedric Harper Jordan and Noelene June Jordan, who are on trial in Launceston Supreme Court charged with murdering Campbell Town man Shane Barker, 36, on the evening of August 2, 2009, gave their opening statements on Wednesday.

Patrick O’Halloran, defence counsel for Cedric, the man the Crown alleged was who pulled the trigger, told the jury on Wednesday morning there were three “headline issues” for the jury to consider.

Campbell Town man Shane Geoffrey Barker, 36. Picture: File

They were the “identity of who it was that murdered Mr Barker”; “the accuracy and reliability of the content of witnesses’ memories”; and that the “firearm that shot Mr Barker has never been recovered,” Mr O’Halloran said.

Mr O’Halloran told the court that most witnesses were being asked to recall events that occurred when “Kevin Rudd was prime minister the first time and David Bartlett was premier”.

“How long after the event was the witness first asked to recall it? Who was the memory first provided to, and how was it recorded? Who is the memory about?” he said.

His client, Cedric, had “nothing to do with Mr Barker’s... confronting, emotional and distressing... death,” Mr O’Halloran said.

“It was a murder he did not commit.”

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Defence counsel Fran McCracken, representing Noelene, also told the jury they needed to interrogate the evidence and consider its context with a fine-tooth comb.

“Is there any issue with their (witnesses’) credibility? Even if you’re satisfied that what they say is correct, when did it happen? In what circumstances? What’s the context?” she said.

“Words can be easily thrown about but when you look at them in hindsight, you get a different picture.

Death of Shane Geoffrey Barker (36), shot a number of times at his home at 2 East Street in Campbell Town. Tasmania Police forensic officers at the crime scene. Picture: File

“You have to scrutinise everything that you hear.

“There are 14 years between the murder in 2009 and where we are in court in 2023.

“There’s a lot of water under the bridge. It’s a long period of time for people to question their memory of events.”

Last week, Crown prosecutor Daryl Coates told the jury it was the Crown case that Cedric, in concert with his wife, shot Mr Barker on or near his 2 East St driveway a total of four times, three in the back and once in the chest.

Mr Coates said that the Crown would allege that the Jordans were motivated to kill Mr Barker to get him out of the life of his ex-wife Rachel, their daughter, and granddaughter, Sophie.

Originally published as Shane Barker joked about ex-wife Rachel shooting him, murder trial hears