Local man wins murder retrial

By Sarah Schwager
A CRANBOURNE man accused of beating his girlfriend to death has successfully appealed against his conviction for murder.
Robert Clifford Barrett, 33, last week won a new trial after being jailed for 25 years over the death of 29-year-old Jenny Brodhurst on June 11, 2003.
On 26 May 2005 the News reported that Mr Barrett had been found guilty in the Supreme Court by Justice Simon Whelan and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in jail. Justice Whelan, who deemed the murder vicious, repeated, savage and cruel, said Ms Brodhurst’s death was the culmination of 10 years of violence.
Ms Brodhurst died at the couple’s David Ave home in Cranbourne. She was found to have bleeding on the brain, fractured ribs, a fractured left finger, bite marks and other injuries consistent with blows and wounds from fists, pieces of wood and a knife.
Last Thursday, the Court of Appeal upheld Mr Barrett’s challenge on the basis of legal errors by the trial judge.
Justice Geoffrey Eames said the prosecution case alleged Mr Barrett and his mother tried to nurse Ms Brodhurst and clean up the house instead of taking her to hospital.
Justice Eames said there were a number of issues at trial including whether the injuries were a substantial cause of death and, if so, whether they were inflicted with the intent required for a conviction of murder.
He said there was also evidence suggesting that the applicant was a heavy user of amphetamine, thus raising the possibility that he may have suffered a drug induced psychosis, which would have deprived him of the capacity to form the relevant murderous intention.
Justice Eames said it would not have been impossible for the Supreme Court jury to conclude that the injuries had not caused or contributed to Ms Brodhurst’s death but if they had that they had been caused by falls brought about not by violence but by the effect of drugs.
He also said Mr Barrett’s evidence to a psychiatrist about his reactions after taking amphetamines should have been placed before the jury.