A man falsely claimed his partner had died after a ute accident but later told police he was acting in self-defence by tackling her into the wall of a remote bush hut, a court has heard.
Rohen James Hanson has admitted killing his then-partner Dee Annear during a camping trip in September 2021 but has pleaded not guilty to murder, saying it was never his intention to kill her.
On trial in the NSW Supreme Court at Coffs Harbour, the 41-year-old has been accused of trying to cover up the killing by claiming his partner had been injured in a ute accident on the way back to the hut in the Bulga State Forest.
Reconciling after a violent argument in which Ms. Annear received black eyes, the pair drove from their home in Wingham, near Taree, to the Pole Dump Hut on the NSW mid-north coast, where they planned to spend four nights, jurors were told.
The stay turned violent with Ms. Annear being killed either on the evening of Sept. 17 or the following morning, crown prosecutor Carl Young said on March 20.
Mr. Hanson first claimed during a triple-zero call on Sept. 18 and then to RFS volunteers, paramedics and police on the scene that his partner had died in the hut because of injuries from the ute accident.
He later changed his story and told police the pair had a heated argument around midnight, that he had driven away for a while to “scare her”, and then driven his grey Holden Rodeo ute off the road and into a ditch on the way back.
In a police interview after his arrest on Sept. 21, Mr. Hanson claimed Ms. Annear had swung a beer bottle at his head after he called her an obscene name, Mr. Young said.
She charged and he reacted, Mr. Hanson is alleged to have said.
“I didn’t mean it. I tackled her and she hit her head,” he allegedly told police.
“I didn’t intend to hurt her. It’s not murder, it was not premeditated.”
Mr. Young said Mr. Hanson admitted wiping up blood in the hut and trying to hide a bloodied mattress by throwing it into the bush.
He told jurors that Ms. Annear had “particularly serious injuries” to her head and skull, which ultimately caused her death.
Her skull, nose and jaw were fractured and she had extensive bruising.
These injuries were not consistent with a car accident but rather came from blunt force trauma which occurred hours before her death, a forensic pathologist is expected to tell the court.
The presence, location and volume of blood found by crime scene investigators within the hut indicated “a significant bloodshed event,” Mr. Young said.
Standing in the dock wearing a suit and tie, Mr. Hanson pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.
His plea to the lesser charge was not accepted by prosecutors.
Mr. Young said Mr. Hanson and Ms. Annear had each been alleged to have committed domestic violence on the other.
“This was quite a volatile relationship in which arguments and fights happened with some frequency,” he said.
Mr. Hanson had pushed his partner into a coffee table, stomped on her head and given her black eyes in separate incidents that occurred since they started going out in 2017, jurors heard.
Ms. Annear was violent towards her own mother who she blamed for calling the police after another assault by Mr. Hanson, Mr. Young said.
There would also be evidence that the couple abused alcohol and drugs, jurors were told.
The trial, which is expected to last three to four weeks, continues on March 19.
