‘A really weak younger lady’: what occurred to Amber Haigh?

In March 2002, 19-year-old Amber Haigh was scuffling with the calls for of motherhood.

It was the primary few months of her younger son’s life – however it will additionally show to be the previous few months of Haigh’s, a courtroom has been advised.

The NSW supreme courtroom heard this week Haigh noticed Emma Baldock, then a counsellor on the QEII Household Centre in Canberra, that month. Baldock, an skilled nurse, midwife and counsellor, was troubled by the assembly.

“I consider Amber was a really weak younger lady,” she would later inform police. “For my part, she would have problem in understanding the distinction between love and exploitation.”

Months later, in June 2002, Haigh vanished with out hint. Her physique has by no means been discovered.

Now, 22 years after Amber Haigh was final seen, the married couple Robert Samuel Geeves and Anne Margaret Geeves, each 64, are on trial charged together with her homicide. They’ve every pleaded not responsible.

The crown has alleged in courtroom that Haigh – cognitively impaired and described by her mom in courtroom as “very simply misled” – was utilized by the Geeves as a “surrogate mom” as a result of they wished one other child. It has alleged that after Haigh’s child – fathered by Robert Geeves – was born they sought to have her “faraway from the equation” by killing her.

The crown case is circumstantial, the courtroom was advised, however within the absence of a physique, or important forensic proof round Haigh’s disappearance, prosecutors will put ahead a “strands of the cable” case – particular person parts of proof that, taken collectively, collectively show guilt.

‘Little or no or poor parenting’

Giving proof this week, Baldock was taken to an interview she gave to police in 2007 and requested to learn excerpts to the courtroom.

“She had little or no or poor parenting and relationship fashions in her household of origin. Her mental capability additionally made her weak, collectively together with her earlier sexual abuse,” Baldock advised the courtroom, studying from her police interview.

“Amber was confused about her relationship with Robert and Anne. She had poorly outlined boundaries, specifically together with her sexual relationship. For my part, she would have problem in understanding the distinction between love and exploitation. I consider she would subsequently have hassle defending her personal baby.”

In Baldock’s proof, the courtroom heard Haigh adored her son however was struggling to deal with the round the clock calls for of parenting a new child.

Haigh would sometimes go away the newborn screaming or “abdicate accountability” for her baby to another person “when all of it obtained too exhausting”, Baldock recounted from her police interview.

In courtroom, Baldock was additionally taken to her contemporaneous notes of her session with Haigh.

She recorded that Haigh mentioned of her household of origin: “father in jail and mom ‘didn’t need me’”.

The notes reported Haigh was deeply anxious that her baby can be taken from her, the courtroom heard.

“Amber states that if Anne and Robert [Geeves] attempt to get [her child] – as a result of they need a child – she is going to inform them ‘again off’.”

‘Murder or misadventure’

The courtroom has additionally heard Haigh was an intellectually disabled teenager from Sydney who had endured a “dysfunctional upbringing” and who had moved to the Kingsvale space to dwell together with her great-aunt within the late Nineties.

That aunt lived subsequent door to the Geeves’s then property, Huntleigh. Haigh briefly dated the Geeves’s son – a teen nearly similar in age to Amber – and later moved in to the Geeves’s dwelling.

A sexual relationship commenced between Haigh and Robert Geeves – 22 years her senior. In January 2002 Haigh gave delivery to her son, fathered by Geeves.

The Geeves have persistently denied having something to do together with her disappearance.

The courtroom heard the Geeves advised police they drove her to Campbelltown railway station in Sydney’s outer south-west, from the place she was to go to her dying father, on the night of 5 June, and have neither seen nor heard from her since.

They advised police Haigh left her five-month-old son of their custody. They reported Haigh lacking a fortnight later, on 19 June.

In 2011, a coroner dominated Haigh had died, a while in 2002, “from murder or misadventure”.

The supreme courtroom has beforehand heard the Geeves had had one baby collectively – a son the identical age as Haigh, who had beforehand dated her – however the couple wished extra youngsters, having subsequently endured three miscarriages and a stillbirth.

“The crown case principle is that it was all the time the intention of the Geeves to imagine the custody and care of [the child] from Amber,” crown prosecutor Paul Kerr advised the courtroom in his opening.

“However they knew that to do this, Amber needed to be faraway from the equation … so – the crown asserts – they killed her.”

Legal professionals for Robert and Anne Geeves have argued the case in opposition to the couple is deeply flawed, arguing in courtroom that “group distaste” at Robert Geeves’s relationship with “a a lot youthful lady with mental disabilities” fuelled “gossip and innuendo”.

“All the things they did was seen by a haze of distrust and suspicion,” Michael King, performing for Anne Geeves, advised the courtroom. He mentioned his shopper had “no motive to kill Amber, and even want her lifeless”.

Paul Coady, for Robert Geeves, advised the courtroom his shopper “denied being in any method concerned in [Haigh’s] disappearance or homicide” and argued “many witnesses harboured grievances or suspicions significantly in opposition to Mr Geeves”.

‘She was my ex-girlfriend’

Thus far, the courtroom has heard from 11 witnesses, all known as by the prosecution.

Amber Haigh’s mom, Rosalind Wright, testified her daughter was “bubbly” and “kind-hearted” however somebody who discovered college troublesome as a result of she “took a very long time to study”. Haigh was “very simply misled” her mom mentioned.

A neighbour of Haigh’s mentioned beneath cross-examination that Haigh may very well be an “over-sharer” when the pair sat down for a cup of tea.

In late 2001, each have been pregnant on the similar time: Haigh had advised her she wasn’t certain who the daddy of her child was, reportedly saying it was one in all three males: Geeves, Haigh’s personal cousin, or her cousin’s grandfather.

The Geeves’s son Robbie appeared in courtroom, known as as a prosecution witness within the homicide trial of his dad and mom.

Within the witness field, and sitting in courtroom after his proof, Robbie Geeves didn’t have a look at, or acknowledge, his dad and mom as they sat within the dock.

His mom wiped away tears as she seemed in the direction of her estranged son.

Robbie Geeves advised the courtroom of the irreparable schism attributable to his father fathering a toddler to Robbie’s ex-girlfriend.

In early 2002, his mom had introduced the toddler to him, pleading with him to just accept the new child as his brother. He advised the courtroom he was unable to.

“I don’t know learn how to say it in a pleasant method: she was my ex-girlfriend, you may’t have a child brother to your ex-girlfriend … it’s not proper.”

The judge-alone trial earlier than Justice Julia Lonergan continues in Wagga Wagga. Baldock will return to the witness field to complete giving proof.