A Westbury man told a coronial inquest that he had once struck missing woman Darlene Geertsema as well as striking a former wife, Wendy, and twice pushing his present wife, Marlene.
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John Shepherd is a person of interest in the disappearance of Darlene Avis Geertsema from a Devonport unit on October 23, 1978.
Being led in his evidence by his counsel Greg Richardson, Mr Shepherd gave evidence that he had struck Ms Geertsema at a house in Forest Rd, Trevallyn, in 1971.
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"It was a backhander like that," he said, demonstrating to the court.
He said that Ms Geertsema received a black eye.
This week, two sisters of Ms Geertsema gave evidence that they had seen blood on the walls in the lounge room, bedroom and on a mattress at the Trevallyn house.
Mr Shepherd said that was because he cut his arm trying to push up a window after she locked him out.
Counsel assisting Madeleine Wilson asked if that was the occasion that Mr Shepherd bashed Ms Geertsema so severely her mother could hardly recognise her.
"I never bashed her," he said.
"She had a bruised and swollen lip, broken nose?," she asked.
"That's not right," he said.
He said he hit his former wife Wendy Shepherd two or three times after a man told him that she was "rooting around" in Westbury. He said he did not know if she had a fractured jaw.
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"Definitely bloody not," he said attracting a language warning from Coroner Simon Cooper.
His present wife Marlene gave evidence that Mr Shepherd pushed her on two occasions when he had been drinking.
"I told him that if this relationship is going to work you are going to have to stop the pushing," she said.
The court heard that on four occasions over seven years, Ms Geertsema packed up her children and left accommodation she was sharing with Mr Shepherd - often without leaving a note.
Counsel for Mr Shepherd, Greg Richardson, led Mr Shepherd through events.
"What was Darlene doing," he asked.
"She had a drink, had tea or dinner and she was offish, a little strange," he responded.
He said that she did not respond to physical affection.
He said that because she had been drinking Jim Beam he decided to have a couple of stubbies himself.
"She was unusual, I tried to talk but she did not want to and she said 'oh get off, get out of it'," Mr Shepherd said.
He said that about 10pm he told her that it was time to go to bed.
"She said 'I'm not going to bed, I'm going to see Julie [her friend Julie Rowe], she has been sick'," he told the court.
"She said she would be home by midnight."
He said Ms Geertsema's red Sunbird was parked out the front of the unit.
Mr Shepherd said he went to bed, but did not have a good night's sleep because he was waiting for her to come home.
He said by daylight she was still not home so he got the kids up and dressed and took them to school.
"I went back to the unit and then went to Julie's to see if she was there," he said.
He told the inquest that he had driven to her place at Parkham [west of Deloraine] and drove past a number of places in Westbury and called at Ms Geertsema's father's place.
He said he went back to Devonport to the flat and then picked the children up from school.
He said he decided to drive around Devonport and found the car, but not at the Bluff.
He said he went to the police station. "I was getting pretty upset by then," he said.
Ms Geertsema's daughter Kathryn Gray, who was then eight years old, told the inquest on Tuesday that she heard an argument, a loud thump and then silence.
Ms Gray said that during the afternoon of October 23 her mother showed her tickets and a present for her two 13-year-old sisters who were in Queensland, who they were going to visit.
In cross-examination, Ms Wilson suggested that Ms Geertsema planned to tell Mr Shepherd that she was leaving and was taking their son Ryan with her.
"She made clear that you were not included and that she was going to pursue a relationship with another man," Ms Wilson said.
"No she did not make it clear at all," he said.
"After blow or blows you panicked and put her into your car," she said.
"Then you drove the Sunbird to the Bluff," Ms Wilson said.
"It never happened, I never left the house," Mr Shepherd said.
Ms Wilson said he then invented a story to go to Julie's and disposed of her body.
"There was no body," Mr Shepherd said.
"Over the week you covered your tracks, cleaned the flat and disguised your involvement," she suggested.
"Police could have come any time they liked," Mr Shepherd said.
Mr Cooper said that he would order transcript and sought submissions from counsel within 21 days.
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
