The mundane subject of a crowbar has occupied a significant amount of court time during the trial of a Swansea couple accused of the murder of Campbell Town man Shane Barker.
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Cedric Harper Jordan, 71, and Noelene June Jordan, 68, have pleaded not guilty to the alleged murder on August 2, 2009.
Mr Barker, 36, their former son-in-law, was shot four times in his home's driveway and found dead inside on August 3.
READ MORE: Paroled man pleads guilty after crime spree
In an interview with police, Noelene Jordan said that the couple had gone to Mr Barker's home on Sunday, July 26, to pick up a crowbar.
The crowbar, which had stood two metres high in a brown paper exhibit bag during the trial, had been left at Mr Barker's home after Mr Jordan used it to remove some bricks in the garden, she said.
Mrs Jordan said the last time the couple saw Mr Barker was when Mr Jordan flashed his headlights and Mr Barker pulled over on the Midland Highway in Campbell Town.
Mr Jordan sang out across the street, and it was organised that Mr Barker would leave the crowbar in the garage.
Mrs Jordan said they picked up the crowbar about 7.40pm when the couple were on the way home after driving from Swansea to Kings Meadows to get KFC.
Mr Jordan told police that he realised he did not have his crowbar after he damaged the exhaust system on his father-in-law's blue Nissan X-Trail in mid-July 2009.
He said it made a rattling sound and that he needed the crowbar to bend the heat shield away from the exhaust pipe.
In an interview with police, Mr Jordan described going to Mr Barker's home.
"She [Mrs Jordan] pulled into the yard, and I walked up the side of the shed," he said.
"I'm not sure if I touched anything or not.'"
Mr Jordan said he went around and picked up the crowbar and grabbed hold of a knob on the meter box to pull himself back up.
Mr Jordan's friend Robert Macfarlane said he was with Mr Jordan when the X-Trail damage was caused, and he suggested Mr Jordan bring it around to put it up on ramps so they could look.
"He said it was going in for a service that week," Mr MacFarlane said.
Former DJ Motors service manager Guiseppe Gentille said the car had been booked in on July 23 and fixed on July 24, 2009. He said "aftermarket girls" had called Mrs Jordan on August 11 and the job was approved.
Witness Darren Smith said that a screwdriver could be used to manipulate the heat shield.
"You would have to put it on the hoist to get the required angle; it would be hard to use a crowbar if you were lying on the ground," he said.
A short video of detective senior constable Kurt Broadribb was played to the court in which he attempted to use the crowbar to adjust the heat shield. He said the length of the crowbar meant he could not manipulate it to the correct position.
In a police interview, Mr Jordan denied that the crowbar detail was an attempt to cover himself if DNA evidence was found at Mr Barkers.
Crime scene examiner Heidi Woodhead said the crowbar was seized from Mr Jordan's garden shed on September 21, 2009.
"I dusted for fingerprints, but there was no result," she said.
Defence counsel Patrick O ' Halloran asked a series of questions and was told the heat shield could have been moved from factory settings.
The trial continues into its ninth week on Tuesday.
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for The Examiner. My journalism career has clicked over 34 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for The Examiner. My journalism career has clicked over 34 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
