Trial hears laptop claim

Accused killer’s laptop had ‘accidental deaths’ search

A LAPTOP computer allegedly belonging to accused wife killer Louis James Mahony had internet search terms “accidental deaths” and “poisons”.

Computer analyst James Morris told Toowoomba Supreme Court he had done a data search of the laptop seized from Mahony’s home.

He found internet searches in the terms “poisons” and “accidental deaths” had been entered on June 24, 2009, two months before Mahony’s de facto wife Lainie Coldwell died of a serious head injury.

Mahony, 44, has pleaded not guilty to murder arising from the death of his then 36-year-old de facto wife.

He claims to have found his wife at the foot of a large gum tree in the yard of their 11 Walter St, Charleville, home on the afternoon of August 23, 2009.

He claims Ms Coldwell had been removing party lights from the tree and fell, hitting her head on a rock garden.

The Crown accuses the former policeman of killing his wife and staging the scene to look as if she had fallen from the tree.

Under cross examination by defence barrister Phil Hardcastle, Mr Morris conceded that other people could have shared the laptop computer even though it had just the one account.

Forensic accountant Racquel Canning told the court she had been given records of the joint and individual bank accounts of Mahony and Lainie Coldwell to analyse.

She said one month after Lainie Coldwell’s death Mahony’s Mastercard account had been used to buy $2450 worth of jewellery and $2733 was spent at Surfers Paradise.

The Mastercard account had also been used to buy a $4800 diamond ring on February 9, 2010, she said.

The court had earlier heard the couple had a property near Darwin bought in 2004 for $115,000 when Mahony was a police officer in the Northern Territory.

She said that property had been sold in 2011 for $285,000.

Under cross examination by Mr Hardcastle, Ms Canning confirmed there had not been any transaction from the couple’s accounts amounting to $200,000 as had been said in earlier evidence.

The trial continues.