Zumba instructor accused of killing girlfriend faces new trial

Handwritten notes by a US citizen, in which she said she was “thankful to be alive”, have been read to a jury as part of a second trial for her accused killer.

Mark Sheridan Waden is facing trial for allegedly murdering his then-girlfriend, Priscilla Brooten, a former beauty queen in the US before she moved to Australia in 2005.

Waden, who has pleaded not guilty to her murder, began dating Brooten in 2016 after they met while he was teaching Zumba classes.

Prosecutors opened the second Supreme Court trial on Wednesday after Waden’s first, which began on Monday, was aborted on Tuesday afternoon following juror misconduct.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate said Brooten was allegedly killed after a huge argument with Waden.

On July 5, 2018, Brooten discovered Waden’s messages to other women, including a younger colleague, Desiree Hatzipapas, whom he had begun dating, the court heard.

Walklate said the day after Brooten went missing, Waden made inquiries about digging a trench on his property, telling contractors the council was “on his back”.

The day after her alleged disappearance and murder, he posted online that he needed the work done urgently with the right digging equipment.

Walklate showed the jury a series of photos of Waden’s car pulling a trailer with a wheelie bin on the back. Walklate said Waden had also messaged about washing the bin.

The prosecution case relied on messages Waden made about dumping more than 800 kilograms of soil at a Brisbane tip, and purchasing items from Bunnings, including two tarpaulins and rope.

Walklate referred to dozens of messages between Waden and his new girlfriend, Hatzipapas, and Brooten’s former boyfriend, Steve Thompson.

He also read excerpts from Brooten’s journal.

“You can see she charts her struggles, what her hopes were, what her plans were to deal with those struggles, and she talks about the relationship with Mr Waden in that notebook,” he said.

The notes included: “I am thankful I am alive” and “I am thankful for what I have”.

The court heard Brooten had also written about wanting a healthy relationship. “I can do it, I am strong. I won’t give up on my recovery,” she wrote.

Walklate told the jury Brooten met Waden while he was teaching Zumba classes in 2016.

“You’re going to hear that when she went to these classes, she was pretty good, and she was somebody who would be at the front of the class dancing,” Walklate said.

“It was a bit like she was the example … she might be the one at the front who everyone is looking at to make sure they’re doing it right.”

By 2017, Brooten had moved in with Waden at his Bracken Ridge home, Walklate said.

He said the prosecution would rely on Waden’s lies – including claims to other people in the Zumba classes about where Brooten was, and to police about how the relationship ended.

He told people in the class that immigration officials were looking for Brooten, that she was in Australia illegally, and that he thought she had been deported and had taken money from him, Walklate said. He also told one person that “nasty people were after her for money”.

Defence barrister James Godbolt said the prosecution case was based on conjecture, and there was nothing linking Waden to Brooten’s death.

He told the jury Brooten had many names, and had lived in the country under the radar for many years. He questioned whether she had left the country under another name, or killed herself.

Godbolt said there was not a single bit of evidence linking Waden to a murder.

“Use your common sense,” he said. “Would you engage an outsider to dig a hole after killing your partner? Would you instruct them to dig a hole 40 centimetres wide?

“He went to work on July 6, there is evidence of that … there is no forensic evidence whatsoever in this case linking Mark Waden to a killing.”

On Tuesday afternoon, the jury was discharged by Justice Peter Callaghan following an application from Waden’s legal team, after a juror disclosed that he had made searches online.

Callaghan gave detailed instructions to the new jury on Wednesday, urging them not to conduct independent research.

“We are starting this trial today, after originally having started it on Monday with another jury panel,” he said.

“They had to be discharged yesterday because one juror took it upon himself to disobey this instruction, and so the whole trial had to be aborted and we’re starting it again.

“Just think for a moment about what’s involved in that. Look around and think how much this is costing, for a start. That’s one way of looking at it.

“But it’s a murder trial. Everyone involved is under extreme pressure, and that pressure has been extended, prolonged for all those people, for the extra period it’s taken to start this trial again, and that is just so horribly unfair on everyone involved.”

Callaghan also warned the jury about the use of AI, given that it hallucinates and the internet being notoriously unreliable.

“It’s just so unfair, and the consequences are so profound, that I’m asking you to work with me,” he said.

The trial continues.

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