A man charged with his wife’s alleged murder after she drowned on a kayaking trip claimed they weren’t wearing life jackets because they had been ‘eaten by rats’.
Graeme Davidson, a former n Army major, fronted the Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday following the death of his wife Jacqueline Davidson.
Ms Davidson, 54, was unable to be revived after she drowned while kayaking with her husband, 55, on Lake Samsonvale, near Forgan Cove in Queensland’s Moreton Bay region, on November 27, 2020.
Mr Davidson moved to Thailand five months after his wife’s death but was arrested earlier this year during a visit to .
He was charged with murder, fraud and attempted fraud, relating to allegations he tried to claim more than $1million on Ms Davidson’s life insurance.
During the bail application hearing on Thursday, defence barrister Craig Eberhardt KC claimed there was no evidence she had been ‘violently assaulted’.
Her body did suffer minor bruising, which Mr Davidson’s team said was consistent with his rescue and CPR attempts, Newswire reported.
The court also heard Mr Davidson’s account of his wife’s drowning.
He described them being 10metres apart on the water when he attempted to ‘show off’ by standing up on his kayak.
‘Jacqueline became distressed about that and used the ‘safe word’ … designed to let him know that she was concerned about what he was doing,’ Mr Eberhardt said.
Mr Davidson claimed moments later he saw Ms Davidson ‘fall off the kayak’.
He recalled diving into the water to find her but struggled to see as it was ‘murky’ and full of grass weeds.
‘He managed to find her after some period of time, and he dragged her out,’ Mr Eberhardt said.
The lawyer said Mr Davidson then attempted to revive his wife and called to nearby bystanders for help. One of them called an ambulance.
The court heard the couple weren’t wearing life jackets as they had been ‘eaten by rats’ at their home in Bondi, in Sydney’s east, before they relocated to Queensland.
‘There’s evidence to that effect in a statement of (a woman)… she had been told prior to the death that the life jackets had been eaten by rats,’ Mr Eberhardt said.
Police said they would allege in court that Mr Davidson murdered his wife after their relationship broke down.
Mr Eberhardt acknowledged the marriage had struggled after Ms Davidson discovered her husband had an affair with a woman in Papua New Guinea in 2019.
However, the lawyer claimed Mr Davidson was ‘committed’ to repairing their relationship.
There was no evidence of domestic violence between the pair.
Mr Davidson began a relationship with his second wife, Thai woman Pick Pattraporn, after he moved to the Thai resort of Hua Hin, 200km south of Bangkok, in April 2021.
The pair tied the knot in a traditional ceremony in December 2022.
Mr Davidson’s adult son and two daughters did not appear in photos from the day.
He is also facing charges of fraud and attempted fraud, which relate to allegations he tried to claim more than $1million in life insurance after his wife’s death.
In response to these allegations, Mr Eberhardt said both Mr Davidson and his wife had taken out claims in each other’s favour in mid-2020.
‘There is no evidence the setting up of the insurance policies was the applicant’s idea,’ the defence lawyer said.
Mr Eberhardt argued it would have been suspicious if Mr Davidson did not attempt to access her life insurance following her death.
The court also heard how Mr Davidson was recorded on CCTV burning ‘a small number of documents’ in his backyard, while one of his children was at home.
However, Mr Eberhardt dismissed the footage as ‘not evidence of anything’ since it was unclear what the documents contained.
Mr Davidson’s bail application will resume on Friday.