Bobby Medcraft murder trial day 2: Who allegedly wielded sword
A Tasmania Police officer with the Western District forensics service has described the grisly scene he was confronted with in the wake of Bobby Medcraft’s death. LIVE UPDATES >
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The trial of five Tasmanians accused of murdering 23-year-old dad of two Bobby Medcraft is playing out in the Launceston Supreme Court.
Day 2 live updates as they happened
Update 4.30pm: A Tasmania Police forensics officer who attended the scene of the alleged murder of South Burnie dad Bobby William Medcraft, 23, has told the trial of five people accused of the crime he witnessed “heavily blood stained” clothing and bedding at the scene.
First-class Constable Dean Wotherspoon, of the Western District forensics service, took the witness stand in Launceston Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Geoffrey James Deverell, 37, Kelsey Maree Ford, 24, her brother Lucas Shane Ford, 31, Michael William Hanlon, 54, and Cody Christopher Shane Sheehan, 33, have all pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Medcraft.
Const Wotherspoon told the jury he discovered “heavily blood stained clothing” in the garden bed of 4 Ritchie Ave, Downlands, where Mr Medcraft was allegedly bashed by three of the defendants before Mr Sheehan struck him to the leg with a sword, severing his artery.
Const Wotherspoon also said police discovered a shattered glass bottle and serrated steak knife.
Defence counsel Greg Richardson, representing Mr Sheehan, earlier told the court Kayden Morrisson, a friend of the deceased and the resident of 4 Ritchie Ave, brought two knives to the melee.
Mr Richardson also claimed Mr Deverell and Mr Ford were stabbed during the incident with what appeared to be broken bottles.
Const Wotherspoon told the court he also witnessed blood staining on the footpath outside the residence, on the path leading to the house, and on the side of a vehicle which Ms Ford used to transport the co-accused to the scene.
The trial is expected to be shown pictures of Mr Medcraft’s injuries on Wednesday.
Update 1.30pm: The defence counsel for one of five North West Tasmanians accused of murdering South Burnie dad Bobby William Medcraft, 23, alleges Mr Medcraft and his friends were also armed with weapons.
All five, Geoffrey James Deverell, 37, Kelsey Maree Ford, 24, her brother Lucas Shane Ford, 31, Michael William Hanlon, 54, and Cody Christopher Shane Sheehan, 33, have pleaded not guilty to the charge and are on trial in the Launceston Supreme Court.
Greg Richardson represents Mr Sheehan, who the Crown alleges was the defendant who struck the blow with a sword to the back of Mr Medcraft’s right leg, causing him to suffer catastrophic blood loss.
Mr Richardson, in his rebuttal of Crown prosecutor Jack Shapiro’s opening address, told the jury Mr Medcraft and friend Jake MacDonald armed themselves with a “very large knife” and two-foot “Nordic battle axe” in the hours before the final confrontation at Ritchie Ave, the home of Kayden Morrisson.
Mr Morrisson is the brother of Mr Medcraft’s partner Kalinda.
Mr Richardson also alleged Mr Morrisson, upon hearing the fracas out the front of his residence – the Crown alleges a vehicle driven by Ms Ford rammed into the vehicle containing the deceased, Kalinda and Mr MacDonald – armed himself with two knives.
Mr Richardson also told the court Mr Ford and Mr Deverell were stabbed during the Ritchie Ave melee with what appeared to be broken bottles.
Further allegations aired by Mr Richardson included that Mr Medcraft threatened the defendants earlier in the night by claiming he was a member of the Bandidos bikie gang, that the deceased burgled Mr Ford’s house earlier on the night in question, and that he was not in fact lying stricken on the ground when the sword was swung.
The combination of previous threats issued by Mr Medcraft throughout the night, the fact that he attended both Mr Ford and Ms Ford’s houses in the lead-up to the final dispute, and the presence of additional weapons supported his position that his client was acting in self defence, Mr Richardson said.
Paul Sullivan, representing Mr Hanlon, said his client was also acting in self defence.
Mr Sullivan submitted to the jury they could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt his client formed a common purpose with the other co-accused to assault Mr Medcraft with the probable consequence of his murder.
Patrick O’Halloran, representing Mr Deverell, told the jury that at no time did his client lay a finger on Mr Medcraft.
Regarding Mr Shapiro’s earlier allegation Mr Deverell’s role was to restrain Mr MacDonald so he couldn’t aid the deceased, Mr O’Halloran told the court his client “did nothing to prevent Mr MacDonald doing anything, in fact quite the opposite”.
Fran McCracken, representing Ms Ford, also told the jury her client never laid a finger on Mr Medcraft and also disputed the allegation her client’s role was to restrain Kalinda.
Update 11.45am: The alleged murder of 23-year-old South Burnie father Bobby William Medcraft occurred following a dispute which began with a Snapchat message, the Crown prosecutor has told the jury.
Geoffrey James Deverell, 37, Kelsey Maree Ford, 24, her brother Lucas Shane Ford, 31, Michael William Hanlon, 54, and Cody Christopher Shane Sheehan, 33, are on trial in Launceston Supreme Court.
All five have pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Crown prosecutor Jack Shapiro told the court the Crown will allege the fatal blow to Mr Medcraft was delivered by Mr Sheehan outside a Ritchie Ave, Downlands, residence about 3.50am on March 29, 2020.
This address was the home of Mr Medcraft’s friend Kayden Morrisson, the brother of his partner Kalinda.
Mr Medcraft, Kalinda and a third friend, Jake MacDonald, had fled to Mr Morrisson’s house after a car driven by Ms Ford containing her co-accused arrived at Mr Medcraft’s Cunningham St address, Mr Shapiro said the Crown will allege.
The defendants were seeking “revenge” on Mr Medcraft after the earlier alleged Snapchat dispute, which began between Mr Ford and a friend of Mr Medcraft but soon became primarily between the deceased and the Fords, Mr Shapiro told the court.
There was a “car chase” between Ms Ford – a friend of Kalinda’s – and Mr MacDonald through the streets of Burnie, Mr Shapiro said, as the trio of friends attempted to lose the pursuing vehicle.
At one point, someone in Ms Ford’s vehicle leaned out and shattered Mr MacDonald’s rear windscreen with what the Crown will allege was a cricket bat.
Upon arrival at Ritchie Ave, Ms Ford rammed Mr MacDonald’s car and her male co-accused exited the vehicle, Mr Shapiro told the court.
Mr Ford, Mr Hanlon and Mr Sheehan began “repeatedly punching and kicking” Mr Medcraft in a garden bed, while Ms Ford prevented Kalinda from intervening and Mr Deverell did the same for Mr MacDonald, Mr Shapiro said.
The Crown alleges that Mr Sheehan then retrieved the sword from the vehicle and struck Mr Medcraft a blow to the back of his leg.
This blow “cut through his pants, cut through his skin, his flesh, cut completely through the hamstring, cut through the major nerve, severed both the major artery and the major vein in his leg, and chopped into cartilage at the back of his knee,” Mr Shapiro told the court.
Mr Shapiro has now concluded his opening address. Each defence counsel will now respond.
Earlier 9.30am: The trial of five North West Tasmanians accused of murdering a 23-year-old known to them by slicing his leg with a sword, causing him to bleed out, will begin proper today with Crown prosecutor’s Jack Shapiro’s opening address.
Geoffrey James Deverell, 37, Kelsey Maree Ford, 24, her brother Lucas Shane Ford, 31, Michael William Hanlon, 54, and Cody Christopher Shane Sheehan, 33, are on trial in Launceston Supreme Court.
The Crown alleges they murdered Burnie father Bobby William Medcraft, 23, on March 29, 2020.
All five defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Mr Shapiro’s opening address, which is expected to take up a significant portion of Tuesday’s proceedings, will provide an overview of the Crown allegations against the five defendants.
Each of the five defence counsel will then have their own opportunity to provide an opening address.
This report will be updated throughout the day.
DAY 1 RECAP
A young Tasmanian man was allegedly sliced to the back of his leg with a sword, causing him to bleed out, the trial of five defendants charged with his murder has heard.
Burnie man Bobby William Medcraft, 23, died at North West Regional Hospital on March 29, 2020, after an alleged incident at Ritchie Ave, Downlands, about 3am that morning.
Geoffrey James Deverell, 37, Kelsey Maree Ford, 24, her brother Lucas Shane Ford, 31, Michael William Hanlon, 54, and Cody Christopher Shane Sheehan, 33, were all arrested and charged later that day. All five have pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and are on trial in the Launceston Supreme Court. The trial, expected to take at least six weeks, commenced on Monday. It is being held at Launceston, rather than Burnie, due to space constraints in the smaller courthouse.
According to the indictment read to the five defendants, they are accused of murdering Mr Medcraft by “cutting his leg with a sword”.
Justice Robert Pearce elaborated further.
“The Crown case is that he died after having been struck to the back of his leg with a very sharp object, which caused blood loss and death,” Justice Pearce told the court.
“It’s the state’s case that each of the co-accused were present when Mr Medcraft died and are all criminally responsible for his death.”
Justice Pearce said there were to be 20 civilian witnesses during the course of the trial, but one of them had died.
Four of the people to take the stand would be “principal” witnesses, as they “spent time” with Mr Medcraft in the hours prior to his death, including his girlfriend, Kalinda Morrisson.
Mr Medcraft and Ms Morrisson have two young children together.
The other 15 witnesses, including neighbours and those “a little more on the periphery”, are “important nevertheless”, Justice Pearce.
The deceased witness due to take the stand was Kieren Jamie Wesley Whitehouse, 23, who died in an unrelated car accident at Ridgley on April 15 last year.
The jury of eight men and four women, with two female reserves, took approximately 90 minutes to empanel, “an unusually long time”, Justice Pearce noted.
This was because, in criminal trials before the higher courts, the Crown and defence all have the right to approve jury members. Dozens of prospective jurors were struck out on Monday morning. Justice Pearce stressed to the jury they must only consider matters put before the court and that, should they stumble across material on social media, they “disengage immediately”.
The jury was sent home for the day at 1pm.
The trial proper will commence 10am Tuesday with the Crown’s opening address, as per custom.
Alleged Burnie murder victim Bobby William Medcraft, 23, pictured with his young son; and with grandfather and mum Leeanne (inset right) Pictures: Facebook
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