A Swansea man accused of the murder of Shane Geoffrey Barker was fidgety and couldn't look an acquaintance in the eye at Mr Barker's wake, a Supreme Court jury heard.
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Witness Rodney Jones was giving evidence in the trial of Cedric Harper Jordan, 71, and Noelene June Jordan, 68, who have pleaded not guilty to the murder of the 36-year-old Mr Barker on August 2, 2009.
Mr Jones was a close friend of Mr Barker from 2001 and they shared a love of shooting.
Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates SC asked Mr Jones about seeing Mr Jordan at Mr Barker's funeral and wake at Campbell Town.
"Did you go to the wake at the Bowls Club?," Mr Coates asked.
"Yes," Mr Jones said.
"As you were leaving did you run into Cedric Jordan, Noelene Jordan and Rachel Jordan [Mr Barker's estranged wife]," Mr Coates asked.
"Yes," Mr Jones said.
"What happened, how was he?," Mr Coates asked.
"He said he was no good, he was crook in the guts and that he and Noelene had taken up smoking again because of what happened," Mr Jones said.
"How did he appear?," Mr Coates asked.
"He was fidgety and couldn't look straight at me," Mr Jones said. The jury has heard that up to 1000 people attended Mr Barker's funeral.
Mr Jones agreed with defence counsel for Mrs Jordan Fran McCracken that Mr Jordan was open about having trouble sleeping and being crook in the stomach.
"I suggest that your perception that Mr Jordan appeared nervous was coloured by your concern that he might be a suspect?," she asked.
"I didn't know that at the time," Mr Jones said.
In his opening address Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates SC said that such an extreme reaction was inconsistent with the death of a son-in-law.
"You might think it is more consistent with someone who had committed a terrible crime," he said.
The jury heard that Mr Jones and his wife Maree and Mr Barker and Ms Jordan saw each other frequently before the Barker's separated in May 2007.
He said the separation came after Ms Jordan started seeing her old boyfriend Justin Titley.
Mr Jones said he hunted with Mr Barker, often at the Windfalls property where Mr Jordan and Rachel were members, about 20 to 50 times a year.
He said that he had visited Mr Barker's East St, Campbell Town home many times.
"He was very much a creature of habit," he said.
"He would drive in his driveway, park in front of the right hand side roller door of his garage," he said.
"He'd unlock the roller door and put his car away and lock the door behind him and then close his gate and walk to the front door.
"Then he would unlock the door and go inside, close the door, ask you to take your shoes off and lock the door behind us even though we were only 2cm behind him and turn the outdoor lights on.
"That was his habit and then he would proceed to the kitchen bench and leave his keys, wallet and phone on the left hand side."
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Mr Jones said that one of Mr Barker's habits was to have dinner at his parents' Campbell Town home on Sunday nights.
Mr Jones said that Mr Barker was very upset about the separation and wanted to go to marriage counselling but Ms Jordan refused.
Mr Jones gave evidence that he overheard a conversation between Ms Jordan and his wife Maree.
"The conversation was that Rachel explained an allegation that Shane had raped her," he said.
Asked to recall the exact words Mr Jones said that on their last night together Mr Barker asked her two or three times to have sex with him and she refused.
"She decided to give in to those urges of Shane's to make love and she just laid there and did not react," Mr Jones said.
Ms Jordan told the court on May 4 that Mr Barker had asked for a "root for the road" involving sex in a particular way. But she could not recall what she told Ms Jones and whether she used the word rape.
Mr Jones said that after the breakup Mr Barker told him he did not trust Ms Jordan and that he was going to change the locks on the shed and car port.
He said that after the breakup the relationship between the two was very difficult including about custody of the pair's daughter.
He said that Mr Jordan had said to Mr Barker multiple times that Mr Barker would get custody of Sophie over his dead body.
"Did Mr Barker ever say anything about going to the Launceston Police Station?," Mr Coates asked.
"Yes he had a phone call at his workplace and police picked him up and brought him to Launceston in relation to allegations that he had been molestering his daughter," Mr Jones said.
"He was very angry with Snow [Mr Jordan], Rachel and Noelene about the allegations.
"Why was he angry?," Mr Coates asked.
"Because it wasn't true," Mr Jones said.
Mr Jones said that Mr Barker and his daughter stayed with him at Dolphin Sands on July 25-26, the weekend before he died.
He said that on the Sunday night July 26 Mr Barker told him Ms Jordan had rung complaining that there was a birthday party that she would have liked to take Sophie.
He said that on Sunday, August 2 he spoke to Mr Barker for about an hour on the phone about an upcoming hunting trip to Victoria.
That night he messaged Mr Barker about 8.30pm.
"Did you get a reply," Mr Coates asked.
"No," Mr Jones said.
"Was he normally a person who replied?," he asked.
"Yes, normally very prompt," he said.
Mr Jones said that when Mr Barker became the firearms sales manager at the then Roberts Ltd Campbell Town store he became very diligent about his firearms licence.
He said that he advised Mr Barker to get rid of an unregistered .22 rifle he owned.
He told Mr Coates that Mr Barker never mentioned that Mr Jordan had dropped a crow bar at his home.
Mr Jones agreed with Ms McCracken that he only ever heard Mr Barker's side of arguments over the daughter's custody and family disagreements.
He said he had never seen arguments between Mr Barker and the Jordans.
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.
