THE CROWN CASE
6 The Crown case against the appellant was circumstantial. The substance of it was as follows.
7 As at 3 July 2002, the deceased Susan Smith was aged 42, and she lived with her sister Margaret Smith at 37 Mons Avenue, West Ryde. Both of them worked, Susan at Coles Myer at Chullora and Margaret at a law firm in the city.
8 Another sister, Helen Cleverly, lived nearby at 122 Constitution Road, West Ryde, with her two youngest sons David and Michael. Her other son was the appellant, who was then aged 18 and who also lived nearby at 2/43 Meadowbank Crescent, Meadowbank, with his girlfriend Beth Azzopardi. At the time, the appellant was not in employment.
9 The three sisters' mother had died in January 2002, and their father had died on 25 June 2002.
10 Margaret and Susan were security conscious, and had bars and security locks on the house windows and deadlocks on the doors. In May 2002, they had gone on holiday together and had given Helen Cleverly a set of keys to their house. Their father also had had a set of keys to the house.
11 Susan usually arrived home at about 6pm, and Margaret usually arrived home at about 7pm. On 3 July 2002, cameras at West Ryde Station recorded Susan passing through it at 5.35pm, suggesting that she arrived home at about 5.50pm.
12 Margaret gave evidence that she arrived home at her normal time on 3 July 2002. She saw there were no lights inside the house, and that the door to the electricity box was open. The security door at the rear of the house was open, and the closing mechanism was missing. She went inside, found a torch, and then discovered her sister's body on the loungeroom floor. She ran outside, and rang 000 on her mobile phone (this call being timed at 7.12pm).
13 Ambulance officers confirmed that Susan was dead, and then went to the electricity box. They saw the latch had been broken or cut, and that a piece of twine had been attached to the latch area. The main switch in the box was off. When one of the officers turned it on, the kitchen and bathroom lights came on.
14 Later, police arrived. They found no sign of forced entry. A post-mortem examination showed that Susan had died as a result of ligature strangulation.
15 On 4 July 2002, police interviewed a number of the deceased's relatives, including the appellant. The appellant said he had returned to his unit at about 6.05pm, and had not been to his aunt's house. Police obtained a DNA sample from him.
16 On 6 July 2002, the appellant told his mother that he had discovered his aunt's body, and the following day he also told his girlfriend's parents. They advised him to contact the police. He did so, and later that day, police interviewed him again.
17 In this interview, the appellant said he went to his aunt's house at about 10 to 6 on 3 July 2002 to drop off a jumper that needed to be repaired. He said that when he got there, lights were on and he rang the front door bell, but there was no answer. He rang the second time, and the lights in the house went off. He went to the rear of the house, and saw that the screen door was ajar. He tried to turn the laundry light on, and when it did not come on he went to the electricity box. There was a rope or something tied to it. He noticed a toolbox sitting on a concrete slab near the electricity box. He opened it, but there was nothing inside it but paper. He was able to reach his hand up inside the electricity box and turn the switches up. The kitchen light came on, and he went back to the rear entrance of the house. He operated the closing mechanism on the screen door so that it remained open. He went inside and looked around, and he found his aunt lying face-down on the loungeroom floor. He asked if she was alright and she did not answer. He picked up one of her arms and unravelled her fingers which had been clenched in a fist. Her fingertips were cold. He heard a gate closing, and he ran out of the house and drove away. He did not call the ambulance or the police, because he was scared he would be blamed.
18 After the interview, the appellant accompanied police to his unit where he produced his clothing, including a Cougar brand fleece top, that he said he was wearing on 3 July 2002.
19 On 10 July 2002, Beth Azzopardi provided a statement to police. She said the appellant arrived home at about 6.45pm.
20 At the trial, Beth Azzopardi gave evidence that she told the appellant what she had told the police, and the appellant said their times did not match because his mother had told him to leave something out of his statement, namely that he had spent between half an hour and one hour sitting outside Craig Armour's house, and he had not told the police about this because his mother said he could be charged with stalking. Helen Cleverly confirmed this in her evidence.
21 Clippings from fingernails of both of the deceased's hands contained DNA consistent with the appellant's DNA. The expert giving evidence about DNA said that it was unlikely that this would have resulted from the appellant rubbing the deceased's hands in the way he described. The appellant's fingerprints were found on the outside of the electricity box, and his left palm print was found on the front lip of a red toolbox brought to the attention of police by Margaret Smith on 15 August 2002. On that day, she went to the Mons Avenue house with a police officer, and went to a wardrobe in her bedroom where she said she kept documents including her and the deceased's wills and title deeds to her property. She located the red toolbox, but found the wills missing, and she told the police about that.
22 Margaret Smith gave evidence that she and the deceased had written wills leaving everything to each other. At the time of Susan's death, they owned the Mons Avenue property outright. Susan had about $140,000.00 in savings, and Margaret had about $200,000.00 in savings. Their father had left his estate equally between his three daughters, except for a car which was left to the Cleverly boys.
23 Fibres indistinguishable in optical properties from fibres from the appellant's Cougar top were found on the clothing of the deceased.
24 On 24 July 2002, at about 7pm, Margaret Smith was attacked by an assailant at the front door of her father's house at 10 Small Street, Ryde, to which she had moved on 10 July 2002. She was dragged back from the front door and thrown to the ground. The attacker ran off when a next-door neighbour came to her assistance. Margaret gave a partial description of her attacker. She was unable to see his face, but she said she thought she saw a bit of what looked like blond hair (the appellant has dark hair). She described the attacker as being about 6 feet tall and of slim build.
25 On 25 July 2002, the appellant asked his mother to bring Margaret to her unit. Then he showed Margaret some images of his fish tank, which the appellant said had a time displayed which proved he was at home when Margaret was attacked.
26 On 27 July 2002, the appellant was at his mother's house. His mother and Margaret Smith were in the loungeroom. They heard screaming, went outside and found the appellant in a distressed state. He said he had been doused in petrol by an assailant. He was conveyed to hospital and police were called.
27 There was extensive evidence of communications, generally by computer discs or letters, to the appellant and his mother. The first in time was associated with a reported break-in at the appellant's unit in January 2002, that is about six months before the death of the deceased. Police attended at about 11pm on that occasion, and found that the unit had been ransacked. The appellant told them that documents, two computer hard drives, a laptop and a computer disc had been taken. The appellant showed police a message on his computer screen which demanded some documents and a computer program, signed by "I2".
28 The next communication was a computer disc received by Helen Cleverly on 14 August 2002, containing a threatening letter demanding the return of an item by the appellant, signed I1. Another disc was received by Helen Cleverly on 21 August 2002, with a communication signed by I4. A third disc was received at Helen Cleverly's house on 27 November 2002, with a communication containing threats and reference to "property that your son possesses" signed by I2. In late December 2002, Mrs. Cleverly received a message from I2 claiming that I2 was responsible for the murder of Susan Smith and threatening to kill the appellant. At about the same time, while in custody, the appellant received a letter from I2 threatening to kill the appellant's remaining family.
29 However, earlier while in custody (the appellant had by this time been charged with murder), the appellant had sent a letter to his mother dated 17 September 2002, expressing the opinion that his aunt Margaret had murdered his aunt Susan, giving as the reason that the letter at the beginning of the year said the writers wanted him to return a computer program, and that he had returned that program, so that the communications sent later must have been sent by a "copycat". Helen Cleverly did not disclose the letter to police. It was located by the police in June 2003 when they executed a search warrant.
30 On 27 April 2003 and 2 or 3 May 2003, there were incidents at Mrs. Cleverly's house suggesting attempted intrusions. On each occasion there was writing on the outside of the house suggesting threats against the family, including on one occasion the letters I2 or IZ.
31 On 6 August 2003, there was a home invasion at Mrs. Cleverly's house, when David and the appellant were bound, and items taken, and the letters I2 or IZ were written on internal walls. However, David recognised one of the intruders, and that intruder later admitted participating in the intrusion, and that it had been planned by the appellant and himself. The appellant admitted that he did arrange this incident, giving as his reason that there was a bail review coming up and he wanted to try to keep out of gaol.