Bradley Wade Breward’s alleged killer Mark Rodney Jones sought advice on ‘waste disposal’ from friend

UPDATED: A man on trial for murder told a friend he had “caught up” with the man he is accused of murdering and “things went bad”, a court has heard.

Bradley Breward, 22, is believed to have been killed on January 1, 2017. Picture: SUPPLIED

THE man accused of murdering Bradley Wade Breward in a Launceston unit on New Year’s Day 2017 sought “advice” on “waste disposal” from a friend that day, a court has heard.

Mark Rodney Jones, 43, messaged Terry Taylor — from whom he was renting a shed at George Town — and said he had “caught up” with Mr Breward and “things went bad”.

Mr Taylor today told a Supreme Court trial in Launceston that Mr Jones had previously complained to him that he believed Mr Breward had stolen his unregistered, uninsured Nissan Patrol 4WD ute, which had gone missing from a roadside where it has been advertised for sale.

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The court heard Mr Jones expressed an intention to “waterboard” Mr Breward.

“He was going to torture him to get the information about his ute,” Mr Taylor said.

Mr Jones had offered a $5000 reward for information about its whereabouts, as well as an additional cash reward for anyone who could lead him to Mr Breward.

Mr Taylor told the court Mr Jones claimed to have arrange to pay $1500 to the partner of one of Mr Breward’s friends to “set up” a meeting with him.

The Crown alleges Mr Jones, who has pleaded not guilty, waterboarded Mr Breward and suffocated him to death with a plastic bag in a Newnham unit before dumping his body in Lake Eugenana.

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Mr Breward’s cousin Corey Barnett told the court Mr Breward had been involved in two fights a few days apart in December 2016, the first of which left him with two black eyes and in the second he was attacked with a hammer.

But Mr Barnett said Mr Breward seemed fine on New Year’s Eve, as the pair celebrated drinking with friends and travelled to the Launceston CBD to watch the fireworks.

Alana Brown, a former neighbour of Mr Breward’s mother, told the court Mr Jones visited her Ravenswood home on December 16, 2016, in an attempt to find out where Mr Breward was.

Mr Breward’s mother contacted Mr Jones by phone that night and told him she had effectively disowned her son and that “if I knew where he was I would tell you”.

Mr Jones told her he wanted to “shake (Mr Breward) up” and “I don’t want to go to jail for doing it but I will find him”.

Mr Jones also discussed Mr Breward in an exchange of text messages with a friend, Launceston businessman Timothy Haab, in which he said: “I’m a nasty c — crossed but I’m not crazy” and “he won’t steal again”.

Mr Haab had contacted Mr Jones to do some repair work for him and attempted to be sympathetic when Mr Jones told him about the alleged theft.

“I hate these low-life bastards; make sure you take his teeth,” Mr Haab told Mr Jones in a text message exchange, later saying: “(it’s) just f---ing wrong, kill the c---”, and that “(Mr Breward) needs torturing, vigilante style’”.

There is no suggestion that Mr Haab was involved in any crime.

Defence counsel Greg Richardson suggested to Mr Haab that he was a respectable, law-abiding businessman, and that the messages he and Mr Jones exchanged were just “the kind of silly thing people say to each other when they’re impressing each other or talking nonsense”.

“He was a friend who was hurting and I was trying to make him feel better,” Mr Haab said.

The trial, before Justice Robert Pearce, continues.