YOUNG CAIRNS WOMAN DIES AFTER EROTIC RENDEZVOUS GOES WRONG:
Court told how online date ended in death of young Cairns woman
IT began with text messages between two people who met on a dating app and ended days later with a young woman dead, naked and burnt in her home.
China Crawford, 31, and Richard Clay Dunlop were planning some sort of erotic encounter on April 3 last year with messages detailing rope play and massage – a rendezvous that went horribly wrong.
Yesterday the 28-year-old, who has autism, pleaded guilty in the Cairns Supreme Court to manslaughter, interfering with a corpse and stealing.
The popular traffic controller had met Dunlop, who was a Coles trolley boy, on Plenty of Fish in January that year.
Crown prosecutor Nigel Rees said the messages sent on April 1 and 2 were about “using rope ties and blindfolds”.
However, the court heard that Dunlop had rebuffed her advances on the night in question and claimed she lashed out at him.
“China began screaming at him calling him a d***head and that he’d been leading her on,” Mr Rees said
The court heard she struck him in the head.
“The prisoner then pushed China against the wall with his forearm against her throat and held her there until she hit the deck unconscious,” Mr Rees said.
She was found dead two days later when a work colleague stopped by for a welfare check and saw her on the floor.
“The deceased was lying naked, face up … (her) left arm and leg, carpet surrounding her body and a wardrobe door and a mattress were partially burned,” Mr Rees said.
Dunlop had tried to start a fire to burn away any evidence of his crime, but the closed door and windows had suffocated the flames. He also took her clothes, handbag and phone.
Defence barrister Justin Greggery said these actions reflected an “immature, panicked response” of someone with his cognitive impairment.
Mr Greggery said there was “no suggestion of anything sinister planned”.
“It is a very short physical reaction,” he said. “He was berated and he pushed her.”
Justice James Henry said based on the text messages there seemed to have been interest on both sides of some sort of quasi sexual encounter.
“He left an evidentiary trail like Hansel and Gretel through the forest,” Justice Henry said.
Mr Rees said the range for a sentence was between seven years and eight months and nine years jail, while Mr Greggery said it was seven years or just above. Dunlop, who has spent 595 days in custody, will learn his fate on Monday afternoon when he is sentenced.