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A recent High Court decision demonstrates the often highly technical and complex task of crafting directions for a jury which accurately and unambiguously state how the law relates to the case.

On 18 September 2019, Brent Malcolm Huxley was convicted after a trial before Justice North in the Townsville Supreme Court of the murder of Michael James McCabe.  He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

McCabe, a known illicit drug user, was murdered on or about 16 August 2015. Police found McCabe’s “partly-skeletonised and partly-mummified” body in remote bushland at the bottom of a steep, rocky embankment in Crystal Creek, north of Townsville, on September 17, 2015.

An autopsy revealed Mr McCabe had multiple fractures to his face, consistent with having a large rock dropped on his head.

Another man named Jason Douglas Taylor was also convicted of McCabe’s murder in a separate trial. Taylor’s appeal against conviction was subsequently dismissed.

The Crown case was that there was a “plan” schemed by Huxley to murder Mr McCabe with the help of others. It was alleged McCabe had been assaulted hours before his death on 15 August 2015 in a unit in Burnda Street, Townsville.

A second co‑accused named Matthew Luke Horima Rewha was charged with the unlawful assault occasioning bodily harm in company of McCabe at the unit on 15 August 2015. A third co‑accused, Leonie Doyle, was Huxley’s girlfriend at the time. She was charged with being an accessory after the fact to the manslaughter of McCabe.

The prosecution alleged that Rewha assaulted McCabe in the unit, and that Huxley subsequently murdered McCabe on 16 August 2015 at Crystal Creek or elsewhere in Queensland.

Hess’ evidence

The primary evidence against Huxley was from Darren Hess, who claimed that Huxley had confessed he had committed the murder to him in August 2015.

Hess gave evidence at the trial that Huxley had “showed up” at his address in Townsville on three occasions in August 2015. On the first visit, Mr Huxley was driving a blue Commodore.  On the second visit, Hess asked Mr Huxley “what have you been up to?” and that Mr Huxley replied “the usual stuff” and then said “I done a hit on a bloke for $10,000”. Mr Huxley showed him “how he picked the rock up and dropped it on him and he said the fellow went wahhh – gone”. On the third visit Huxley told him the $10,000 had gone into his cousin’s account.

Hess’ evidence included a demonstration of the action that Mr Huxley showed him with the rock, describing that Mr Huxley “pretended to pick the rock up and dropped it”.
Continue reading “High Court majority dismisses Brent Huxley’s appeal for murder of Michael McCabe”