TRIAL DISCHARGED
A judge has discharged the jury in the trial of a man accused of murder in Tamworth.
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Justice Anthony Payne said the Troy Jason Ruttley’s trial could not continue after an issue was raised by one of the 12 jury members on Wednesday morning.
Ruttley is accused of murdering Johann Morgan – a mother of eight whose body has not been found.
Justice Payne said he was reluctant to abandon the trial but said he had no choice.
The jury was discharged and a new trial has been set down.
More to come.
A JURY has heard from a handful of people police claim were the last to see a Tamworth mother alive before she was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend.
On the opening day of a Supreme Court trial in Tamworth, a jury was told Johann Morgan’s body still hasn’t been found – almost two years since friends and family last saw her.
In his opening address, Crown prosecutor Bryan Rowe told the jury they would hear evidence that Ms Morgan’s bank accounts had not been touched, or had accessed her Centrelink payments.
He said forensic experts would give evidence that the 41-year-old’s blood stains were found inside and outside of her Cole Rd house – where they allege she was murdered by Troy Jason Ruttley.
On Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty to killing the mother-of-eight, “on or about the 9th of August, 2015” in Tamworth.
The jury heard family members had found Ms Morgan’s wallet and Ruttley’s phone inside the Cole Rd house after she went missing, and audio of an argument where Ms Morgan is heard being “very loud, very abusive” on the night she was last seen alive.
Family members said Ms Morgan and Ruttley were drinking at her house on August 9. Stephanie Morgan was the first witness to take the stand and the woman police claim was the last to see Ms Morgan alive.
She told the court Ms Morgan had made a phone call to her sister and “was having a laugh”. She said she finished off her moselle and left the Cole Rd home on the night.
“And that was the last time I seen my sister with that bloke,” she said.
Ralph Murray, who was drinking at the Cole Rd house with the trio, told the court “there were no rows in the house” in the afternoon or the night.
And that was the last time I seen my sister with that bloke.
- Sister Stephanie Morgan
“We were sitting down, everyone was happy,” he told the court. Three other witnesses also told the court the mood was “happy” that night.
Mr Rowe said the jury would hear evidence that neighbours heard yelling at the house that night and it is then they allege Ruttley “fatally wounded” Ms Morgan.
We were sitting down, everyone was happy.
- Witness Ralph Murray
“The precise injuries and the manner in which they were inflicted … are solely in the knowledge of the accused,” he told the jury. “We do not have a body in this case.”
Defence barrister Anita Betts in her opening said Ruttley didn’t deny having an argument or socialising with Ms Morgan but “he denies that he killed” or seriously injured her.
The precise injuries and the manner in which they were inflicted … are solely in the knowledge of the accused.
- Crown prosecutor Bryan Rowe
Ruttley has admitted to burning a white Mitsubishi station wagon at a quarry at Wallamore, near Tamworth.
The trial continues before Justice Anthony Payne.