A Swansea man says he lied to police about his whereabouts on the night of Shane Barker's murder because a trip to KFC in Launceston put him "in the thick of things".
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The jury in the trial of Cedric Harper Jordan, 71, and Noelene June Jordan, 68, of Swansea heard a two hour video recorded interview with Mr Jordan which was took place six weeks after he made a statutory declaration to police.
The couple have pleaded not guilty to the alleged murder at about 6.35pm on August 2, 2009.
In the August 10, 2009 statutory declaration Mr Jordan said he was in Swansea all night.
In the September 21, video interview Detectives Rick Newman and Joe Riley asked Mr Jordan about his movements. Consistent with his statutory declaration Mr Jordan told them he went to his father-in-law's home about 5pm.
He said that he had a talk, his wife fixed a pill container, changed a patch, didn't think he had a drink and returned home about ten to six to watch the news. They went back to the father-in laws with steak and kidney about 7.10pm. He said they returned home about 8.45pm and went to bed about 10.30 after watching CSI.
He denied three times that he left Swansea.
Sgt Newman asked Mr Jordan if he knew how phone towers worked saying that when calls or texts were made the call bounced off the nearest Telstra tower.
He asked Mr Jordan how their mobile phone bounced off a tower near Perth at 7.11pm and a tower at Youngtown at 7.33pm.
Mr Jordan said that the calls could not have because he was in Swansea all night.
"I put it to you that you went to Launceston?" Mr Newman asked.
"Not that I know of ...I was at Swansea," Mr Jordan said.
Mr Newman then told Mr Jordan that his wife, who was interviewed earlier that day, had already admitted that they did not stay at Swansea.
"You could be just saying that," Mr Jordan said and maintained he was in Swansea.
"Did you or Noelene come though Campbell Town on August 2?," Mr Riley asked.
Mr Jordan then said: "Yes we did the same as the weekend before we went to KFC at Kings Meadows and back home again."
Police suggested that innocent people didn't need to lie.
It was suggested that the KFC trip put them in Campbell Town about the time of Mr Barker's death.
"Because if i told you [about the KFC trip] it would have put us in the thick of things," he said.
Mr Jordan said that Mrs Jordan went into the KFC store rather than drive through.
An agreed fact on Wednesday was that CCTV footage from KFC did not show Mrs Jordan entering the store.
Asked when he had decided to lie to police Mr Jordan said: "About midway through the week we didn't want to be hassled at our age."
Mr Jordan remarked during the interview that if he had wanted to get rid of Mr Barker he would have done it during deer season and made out it was an accidental stray bullet.
He said that he was very very angry with Mr Barker when he heard that his daughter Rachel alleged Mr Barker had raped her.
He told police that he had removed an unregistered .22 rifle from his father-in-law [Noel Jetson] about three months before Mr Barker's death.
The jury has heard that the Crown case is that Mr Jetson's rifle was used to kill Mr Barker.
In listening device and telephone intercepts played to the court Mrs Jordan told Rachel Jordan that lying to police in a murder investigation via her false statutory declaration was a "very, very big deal".
She said that Mr Jordan was number one suspect and that police thought she was involved.
"Where were you that night?," Mrs Jordan asked.
"We went to KFC but didn't stop," Mrs Jordan said.
"We'll have to go to court, we deliberately lied," she said.
In September 22 telephone conversation with friend Kate Lonergan, Mrs Jordan said she felt like shit.
"Why did we do it?," she said.
"Don't say that Noelene," Ms Lonergan said.
"Why did we lie, I meant," Mrs Jordan said.
She told Ms Lonergan that it was the SMS which gave her away.
The jury has heard that Mrs Jordan texted Rachel Jordan at 7.33pm on August 2 saying: "All good down here."
The signal bounced off a Telstra tower at Youngtown.
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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.
