Just days before she was allegedly killed by her Royal Australian Air Force pilot husband, Frances Crawford confronted him about his repeated affairs and relationships, and interstate and overseas flights he had booked for other women, a court has been told.
uncertain
court → kill → women
Robert Crawford, 49, has pleaded not guilty to killing his wife in July 2024, and staging her death to look like a lawn mower accident at their 100-acre property in Upper Lockyer, south-east Queensland.
asserted
Crawford → plead → Lockyer
On the prosecution case, the pilot was a “love rat” who lived a double life, and killed his wife so he would not lose millions of dollars in a divorce.
asserted
he → live → divorce
Frances Crawford’s body was found near a ride-on lawn mower at the bottom of a retaining wall on their property.
asserted
body → find → property
Her husband is alleged to have killed her through strangulation or blunt force trauma to the head.
asserted
husband → allege → head
Infidelity in the Crawford marriage
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court in Brisbane heard from prosecutors that Robert Crawford had several affairs during the marriage, including with another pilot between 2020 and 2022, a real estate agent in 2023, a WA teacher he met on dating website eHarmony in 2023, and with another RAAF colleague from 2023.
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he → hear → 2023
The accused was dishonest with his wife about his infidelity, the prosecutors told the court, telling her he was away on work trips or staying on the RAAF base at Amberley, south-west of Brisbane.
asserted
he → accuse → Brisbane
He would delete messages and book flights for other women, both interstate and overseas, the court heard.
asserted
court → delete → women
After travelling to Italy for a work trip, he began a relationship with a colleague in their squadron.
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he → travel → squadron
On another work trip to the Solomon Islands, they were intimate for the first time, the court heard.
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court → hear → time
He visited the woman’s Brisbane home most weeks during the two-year relationship.
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He → visit → relationship
In mid-2023, he began another relationship with a RAAF colleague.
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he → begin → colleague
He booked return flights to Queenstown for the woman, but later cancelled the flight.
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He → book → flight
Later that year, when he had moved out of the family home he shared with his wife, he began a relationship with a buyer’s agent he met while moving into a rental property.
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he → move → property
He moved into the rental property with help from the second RAAF colleague, the court heard.
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court → move → colleague
Days later, in October 2023, he started to chat with a woman in Western Australia on eHarmony.
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he → start → eHarmony
Around that time, he had sex with the buyer’s agent.
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he → have → agent
The Perth woman travelled to visit him, and the buyer’s agent ended the relationship soon after.
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agent → travel → relationship
When the Perth woman returned home, she asked for her money to reimbursed, but Robert Crawford did not respond, and blocked her.
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Crawford → return → her
There were a series of other infidelities in admissions to the court, which included a physical encounter, but not sex, during a leadership event in Wagga Wagga, a sexual relationship during a training exercise in Japan, sex with a nurse in 2018 where he contracted a sexually transmitted disease, and sex with a friend.
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he → be → friend
He was dishonest about the STD, telling Frances he contracted it from using a public toilet, the court heard.
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court → tell → toilet
The defence case
The defence said an officer on the scene had attended “a so-called DV incident” a year earlier involving the accused.
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officer → say → accused
He told his colleagues that Robert Crawford broke in with an axe, leaving his wife “cowering in her room”, in an incident described as having “all the red flags for domestic violence”.
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Crawford → tell → violence
The officer’s comments coloured other police officers’ perceptions of her death and led to a “close-minded” investigation, the defence said.
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defence → colour → investigation
Defence barrister Saul Holt said the scene could not be explained as staged, and instead the death was a tragic accident.
uncertain
death → say → ?
He said mower rollovers were not uncommon, and that Frances Crawford had been out moving the machine after repeatedly asking her husband to do it.
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Crawford → say → it
The prosecution labelled the events leading up to Frances Crawford’s death a “perfect storm”.
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prosecution → label → death
In response, Holt showed the jury messages sent between the pair in the days before the death.
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Holt → show → death
The weekend before her death, on July 27, 2024, the pair travelled to Kingscliff in northern NSW, where the prosecution says they argued over messaging app Signal.
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they → travel → Signal
The jury were shown CCTV of the pair near the Peppers Resort, and their messages to each other, which included Frances Crawford writing: “I could see in your eyes that you have no empathy.
uncertain
you → show → empathy
When he asked to meet to talk while he was at a park, she responded: “So you can say you were miserable?
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you → ask → park
She also wrote: “All those girls to stroke your ego.”
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She → write → ego
Holt said the argument eventually resolved.
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argument → say → ?
Holt said the best account of what was going on in their lives was what they said to each other, highlighting several messages between the pair.
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they → say → pair
Robert Crawford had messaged at other times saying: “Hey Franny, guess what?
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Crawford → message → what
I miss you.
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I → miss → you
Holt said Frances Crawford had a call with her son on the night of her death.
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Crawford → say → death
From about 9.15pm, Robert Crawford dealt with a work issue, making calls to others on the RAAF base.
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Crawford → deal → base
Holt said his client’s account had remained the same since the death – that he woke, saw his wife was not in bed, searched the property, and found her under the mower.
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wife → say → mower
He managed to pull her out, effectively 90 degrees from the mower.
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He → manage → mower
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
