Court told of motel link in murder trial

AN Ingham motel owner has told of how a woman booked two rooms for three people after arriving in a blue Commodore that was later wanted by police.

Co-owner of the Herbert Valley Motel Dennis Kilmartin told the jury of the Supreme Court trial into the death of Charters Towers man Michael Mccabe that a woman booked the rooms under the name Skye Doyle and paid in cash early on August 16, 2015.

Mr Mccabe was allegedly killed on August 15, 2015.

He was allegedly assaulted at a Kirwan unit before he was stuffed in a boot and driven to remote bushland near Crystal Creek where his body was found in September 2015.

Brent Malcolm Huxley is on trial for his alleged murder.

Leonie Marie Doyle is charged with being an accessory after the fact of murder.

Matthew Luke Horima Rewha is charged with the unlawful assault occasioning bodily harm while in company.

All three have pleaded not guilty.

Mr Kilmartin woman was with when she arrived.

He told the court the group checked out on August 17 and left in the same car. The motel owner next saw the car parked out the back the following morning but they had not checked in.

Ingham Police Station Sergeant Russell Smith told the court he first came across the blue Holden Commodore while on patrol on August 16, 2015.

Sgt Smith confirmed police had received information about a blue Commodore and they were looking for it. said the two men

He said when he first saw the vehicle it was travelling at “speed well above” the limit.

Sgt Smith next saw it again, with another vehicle, on Tuesday evening when conducting patrols. “I saw that the blue vehicle was following another dark-coloured sedan,” he said.

“When I saw this vehicle it appeared to be the vehicle from the day before.”

The court heard the dark blue vehicle sped off, but the second vehicle, a dark-coloured sedan, pulled over and Huxley was in the passenger seat.

Sgt Smith said the vehicle was being driven by a woman, but he didn’t take much notice as he was talking with Huxley, whom he had known previously.

“I asked him what he was doing up here. He said he’d come up to sort some sh-t out with his brothers,” he said.