Source : Perth Now news
A western Sydney man has been found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s husband before dumping his body in the Nepean River more than two decades ago.
A Supreme Court jury on Wednesday found Gofal Baziad guilty of murdering Jason Palmer in February 2004.
During his Supreme Court trial, the Crown prosecution argued that Baziad killed Mr Palmer inside his Lakemba apartment by hitting him over the head with a glass object and repeatedly stabbing him sometime late on Friday, February 6, 2004 or early the next morning.
Mr Palmer’s body was discovered inside a sleeping bag and weighed down with rocks in the Nepean River at Menangle just more than three weeks after he was reported missing by his wife, Renny Palmer.
The Crown prosecution argued that Mr Palmer was killed by Baziad in the fatal culmination of a “love triangle”.
Ms Palmer was not accused of any wrongdoing and appeared as a witness for the Crown prosecution during the trial.
The court was told that Ms Palmer broke up with Mr Palmer in 2002 and began dating Mr Baziad, only to then return to her husband.
During the six-week trial, the jury was told that in late 2003, Mr Palmer called Ms Palmer and Baziad together and asked her to decide between the two men.
“Jason asked me to choose between the two of them,” Ms Palmer told the jury during the trial.
“Did you choose?” Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield asked.
“I did, yes,” Ms Palmer said.
“Who did you choose?” Mr Hatfield asked.
“Jason,” Ms Palmer said.
Following Mr Palmer’s death, Baziad left Australia on March 28, 2004 and did not return until 2009, the court was told.
The court was told that after Mr Palmer’s killing, Ms Palmer began a relationship with Baziad that lasted until 2018.
They lived together in Indonesia before they moved back to Australia, Mr Hatfield told the court.
She told the court during her evidence that she last saw her husband on the evening of Friday, February 6, 2004 at her Belfield home when Baziad and Mr Palmer left together late in the evening.
She said in the following days she unsuccessfully attempted to text and call Mr Palmer and went around to his house, but he was not there.
The following morning Baziad drove her to work; however, part way through the journey she decided she was ill and decided to go home, Ms Palmer told the jury.
Later that afternoon, Mr Baziad told her that he needed to move out of his Lakemba unit because of a problem with the real estate agent.
She also said she offered to lend him her car, which was bigger than his, so he could move items.
Mr Hatfield told the jury that when police forensic investigators later examined Ms Palmer’s red Ford station wagon, they found traces of blood on the rear passenger seat, the carpet and the boot.
A swab of blood taken from the boot was DNA matched to Mr Palmer, Mr Hatfield told the jury.
She said Baziad arrived at her house with several other men asking if he could borrow cleaning equipment.
One of the other men went into the shed where the cleaning equipment, as well as camping gear, was stored, she told the court.
During his closing address to the jury, Mr Hatfield said Ms Palmer called Baziad on the evening of February 7, 2004 and his phone was traced to near the Menangle Bridge on the Nepean River.
“The person she (Ms Palmer) is calling is on the cell tower … down near the Menangle Bridge, on the Saturday night, the day after Jason’s gone missing, where his body is found,” Mr Hatfield said.
“You might think that is extremely, extremely powerful evidence in this case.”
Baziad will return to court on July 17 for sentencing.
