I saw bullet hole and blood
Court told of moment officer knew Barker death was a homicide
A Tasmania Police detective has told the jury in the murder trial of an East Coast husband and wife who deny shooting their daughter’s ex-husband to death in 2009 of the moment he realised the case was a homicide.
The trial of Cedric Harper Jordan, 71, and Noelene June Jordan, 68, of Swansea, entered its sixth week in Launceston Supreme Court on Monday.
The defendants are accused of shooting Campbell Town
man Shane Geoffrey Barker, 36, the ex-husband of their daughter, Rachel Bowden (nee Jordan), four times on the evening of August 2, 2009.
His body was discovered inside his 2 East St residence the next morning, after his Roberts Limited co-workers raised the alarm following his failure to arrive for his shift.
Tasmania Police Senior Sergeant Rick Newman, who has investigated dozens of murders over his 35-year career, gave evidence on Monday morning.
He said he was attached to Launceston CIB’s victims’ unit when his desk received a call on the morning of August 3 from Campbell Town Police requesting assistance following the discovery of Mr Barker’s body.
“I was informed he’d been found inside deceased,” Snr Sgt Newman told the court.
Upon entering the residence, he “observed blood on (Mr Barker’s) shirt” and a hole in the fabric.
Asked whether he looked under Mr Barker’s shirt, Snr Sgt Newman said he did: “I saw what I believed to be a bullet entry wound, I could see it tracking under the skin.
“I immediately got everyone out of the house and yard, indicated a crime scene, and called in forensic experts.”
Snr Sgt Newman told the court that the only sign of disturbance he could see in Mr Barker’s house was a shattered glass panel on the front door, which he said was from a local constable breaking it to gain access to the locked residence.
Earlier in the day, an intercepted telephone call between Noelene Jordan and her friend, Colin Oates, from October 5, 2009, was played to the jury. In it, she told Mr Oates she felt “physically unwell and mentally exhausted” from the pall of suspicion that had descended over she and her husband in the wake of Mr Barker’s death.
“All of our problems in life … (it) is other people who have created (them), you know?” she said.
“We try and plod along and someone else sticks another one (into us). It will have to come to an end. Each day I get that much better, as far as feeling better within myself.”
The trial continues on Tuesday.