Trial sees wounds to wife’s head and neck on night of alleged murder

A Queensland mother suffered a 16-centimetre laceration to her head and at least 20 abrasions to her neck on the night she was allegedly killed by her pilot husband, with her death staged to look like a lawn mower accident, a court has heard.

Robert Crawford, 49, is accused of killing his wife Frances, whose body was found at the bottom of a retaining wall on the couple’s sprawling property in rural south-east Queensland in 2024.

Her death came against the backdrop of her husband’s infidelity, the Supreme Court trial has heard, with prosecutors describing Crawford as a “love rat”, womaniser and master manipulator.

According to prosecutors, Crawford, who lived a double life, killed Frances so he would not lose millions of dollars in a divorce.

He has pleaded not guilty, with his defence team telling the jury the death was a tragic accident, and that Crawford believed his wife died while moving the mower because the sprinklers were going to come on.

On Friday, the jury was shown a series of graphic images of Frances during a post-mortem examination by forensic pathologist Andrzej Kedziora.

In one of the bloody images, Frances has a 16-centimetre laceration to the top of her head.

“The laceration is quite long,” Kedziora said. “When we look at the edges, it seems to be quite straight but when you look [closely] it’s a bit ragged.

“It imitates an incised wound, something done, for example, by a knife, but it’s not.

“The scalp has such a characteristic that it’s a very tough part of the body, and if there is a force applied to it, it just almost cracks.”

Kedziora said the injury was caused either by an object hitting Frances’ head, or her head hitting something, which could have been a rock.

He told the court he found between 20 and 25 abrasions to her neck area, with some overlapping.

She had bruising on her jaw, surrounding a red abrasion on her neck area, as well as bruising across her chest.

Kedziora gave evidence that an abrasion, which had no blood, found on Frances’ hip was yellow. He said abrasions made after death usually looked yellow.

Crown prosecutor Chris Cook asked whether the injury could have been caused by Frances’ body being dragged. Kedziora said it was possible, with the injury likely happening after death.

The jury was shown photos of Frances’ back, which also had abrasions. Kedziora said it was possible these could have been caused by a fall down a rock wall. He said dark red discolourations across her back effectively indicated where blood had pooled from the body resting in place.

She had other injuries, including bruising on her face and to her right arm and hand, and a missing, bloody fingernail.

Cook asked Kedziora whether the fingernail injury could have been caused by someone “struggling to get one’s arms away” from their neck. Kedziora said it was possible, and that the injury happened when Frances was still alive.

Kedziora earlier told the trial there was “a lot of blood in the hair. There was blood on the face. There were several injuries to the head.”

The court also heard Frances had haemorrhaging inside her eyes. Kedziora said those injuries were often seen in cases of strangulation.

Cook asked Kedziora whether an injury to her chin area was consistent with a “lawn mower being picked up and dropped down on her chin multiple times”.

Kedziora answered: “I have great difficulty in reconciling this scenario with this injury.”

This week the jury heard evidence that blood drops found inside the Crawfords’ bathroom were consistent with Frances’ DNA. A forensic scientist told the court there was no test to determine the age of the stains.

The trial before Justice Lincoln Crowley continues.

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