In the cold night air outside his home, Robert Crawford looks up from the bottom of a retaining wall, the glow of a police officer’s torch illuminating his face.
asserted
glow → look → face
His wife, Frances, lies lifeless in her floral pyjamas on the grass.
asserted
wife → lie → grass
Her hand rests on her chest, and her right ugg boot is close to her leg.
asserted
boot → rest → leg
Blood runs from her nose across her face.
asserted
Blood → run → face
An orange ride-on mower is next to her, overturned on its left side, its wheel turned hard to the right and stuck in reverse.
asserted
wheel → ride → reverse
Footage from responding officers, filmed in the early hours of July 30, 2024 and played to a Supreme Court jury this week, shows the former Royal Australian Air Force pilot explaining the lead-up to his wife’s death.
asserted
pilot → respond → death
He has pleaded not guilty to murder.
asserted
He → plead → murder
His defence team says Frances died in a tragic accident.
asserted
Frances → say → accident
Prosecutors say the 49-year-old staged the scene to look like she was killed when the mower she was riding rolled over the wall.
asserted
she → say → wall
The RAAF pilot was a “love rat”, the prosecution says, whose wife discovered his double life.
asserted
wife → say → life
In admissions to the court, Crawford had a string of extramarital affairs with at least 10 women over a decade, including three air force colleagues.
asserted
Crawford → have → colleagues
He killed Frances, either through strangulation or with blunt force, so he would not lose millions of dollars in a divorce, the prosecution says.
asserted
prosecution → kill → divorce
Taking into account settlement finances and Frances’ life insurance policy, her untimely death would become very profitable for Crawford, at about $5.4 million, the jury heard.
asserted
jury → take → million
“Robert Crawford loves money,” Crown prosecutor Chris Cook told the court earlier in the week, “… loved it so much that he killed for it.”
asserted
he → love → it
The footage shows Crawford climbing back up the retaining wall in his pyjama shorts and a jumper, on what paramedics would later tell his trial was an “incredibly cold night” in the Upper Lockyer, on the family’s sprawling 40-hectare property, estimated to be worth up to $2.6 million.
asserted
paramedics → show → property
Crawford told a Triple Zero operator in a 3.37am call that he believed his wife was moving the mower because she was worried about sprinklers coming on.
asserted
sprinklers → tell → mower
By 4.27am, Crawford is at the kitchen table, a grey blanket draped over his shoulders.
asserted
blanket → drape → shoulders
He starts to cry.
asserted
He → start → ?
Sergeant Glen Thomas asks him: “What happened here tonight?”
asserted
What → ask → him
Crawford is softly spoken, often inaudible in the footage, as he talks about how he discovered his wife.
asserted
he → speak → wife
A paramedic prepares him a cup of tea as he rocks forward, his forehead almost touching the table.
asserted
forehead → prepare → table
He tells the officer he went to bed about 11.30pm after studying.
asserted
he → tell → bed
He says he believed Frances was watching a Korean show on Netflix.
asserted
Frances → say → Netflix
When he woke up and discovered his wife wasn’t in bed, he checked the house, calling “where are you”, he says.
asserted
he → wake → house
“I checked the rooms, the guest rooms and stuff, couldn’t see anything there, couldn’t see anything out the front, couldn’t see anything,” he says.
asserted
he → check → anything
He talks about taking the mower out to fix the battery, and Frances asking him to move it because their sprinklers were due to come on overnight.
asserted
sprinklers → talk → it
Text messages on the pair’s phones discussing the mower have been tendered to the court.
asserted
messages → discuss → court
Crawford explains he went outside, aided by the torch on his phone, and saw the mower had fallen over the retaining wall.
asserted
mower → explain → wall
“All I could see was her legs,” he sobs, gesturing with his hands.
uncertain
he → see → hands
He says he managed to pull his wife out from under it.
asserted
he → say → it
In the Triple Zero call, Crawford tells the operator “she is so cold”.
asserted
she → tell → operator
A pump, pump, pump noise can be heard in the background as he attempts to resuscitate her.
asserted
he → hear → her
A marriage marred by affairs
Just a year before her alleged murder, Frances Crawford stood in her kitchen, a tissue in her hand, surrounded by concerned police.
asserted
Crawford → mar → police
Her husband lingered outside, dressed in a grey bath robe, his RAAF flight suit peeking out from underneath.
asserted
suit → linger → robe
Frances was measured and articulate as she told officers what had happened early on July 20, 2023.
asserted
what → tell → July
Though still married, the Crawfords had separated, and she had changed the locks.
asserted
she → marry → locks
But her husband broke in that morning, pulling louvres off their patio window.
asserted
husband → break → window
Frances became emotional as she told officers how her husband had cheated on her.
asserted
husband → become → her
“I have forgiven and forgiven and forgiven, I cannot keep going,” she says in the body-worn footage shown to the jury.
asserted
she → forgive → jury
“For me,” her voice breaks.
asserted
voice → break → me
…and 52 more, not listed.
The Aporia
