By Sam Rigney
A witness who sent a Facebook friend request to a female juror during the closing stages of a murder trial will face further investigation after his actions threatened to force the proceedings to be aborted.
After six days of civilian witnesses and expert testimony in Newcastle Supreme Court, Wednesday started with a dramatic development.
Trial threatened: A witness sent a friend request to a female juror. Credit: AFR
Graham Anthony George Sloane, 68, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the first day of his trial, admitting he was responsible for taking Renee Mitchell from her home in the Lake Macquarie suburb of Windale.
The aged care worker was stabbed four times in the chest and once in the throat before her body was dumped at nearby Bangalay Reserve on November 11, 2014.
Ms Mitchell was attacked in her own home by Graham Sloane before her body was dumped at Bangalay Reserve.Credit: Phil Hearne
But Mr Sloane had pleaded not guilty to murder, raising the partial defence of "substantial impairment" and claiming he couldn't control himself at the time of the killing.
And as both Crown prosecutor Lee Carr and defence barrister Janet Manuel prepared to deliver their closing arguments, Justice Helen Wilson announced she had received a note from the jury.
"The note reads [the witness], sent a friend request on Facebook to a juror on February, 7 2017," Justice Wilson said, her words triggering an audible sigh in the public gallery and at the bar table.
"The juror informed all panel members and immediately deleted the request."
Renee Mitchell was murdered at Windale in Lake Macquarie in 2014.
The witness had given evidence on Monday and sent the friend request the following day, the court heard.
Justice Wilson ordered the juror involved be brought into court, where she was sworn in and gave evidence from the witness box.
The witness was then isolated from the rest of the jury during an adjournment while Ms Manuel consulted her client, Mr Sloane, about the development.
Family members of Ms Mitchell were visibly distressed at the prospect of having to go through the trial again.
"I don't think we'd be able to do it, emotionally," one family member said.
But after a tense 10 minute break, Ms Manuel told Justice Wilson the defence would not be making an application for a mistrial.
Before bringing the jury back in to hear the closing arguments, Justice Wilson said she would be referring the matter for further investigation.
"I will refer [the jury note] and a transcript of this morning's proceedings to the office of the sheriff and ask that an investigation be made," Justice Wilson said.
"I direct the registrar of the court to attend to that referral."
Once the jury were seated, Justice Wilson said: "As you know we've been delayed this morning that was as a consequence of your note.
"Thank you very much for sending me that, you have done precisely the right thing in advising me of that issue and I thank both the individual juror and you all for that.
"As you know we separated the juror who was involved and made some inquiries and as a consequence of those inquiries that we took in your absence we are satisfied that the trial is able to proceed."
Jurors are never identified by name in court proceedings and witnesses and jurors are strictly forbidden from having any contact during the trial.
After a seven-day trial, the jury retired to begin deliberations about 3.40pm on Wednesday and returned with a guilty verdict on Thursday. It took them a little over two hours.
The key issue in the trial was Sloane's state of mind around the time of Mrs Mitchell's horrific death. The jury rejected defence claims that his capacity to control himself was substantially impaired by mental illness.
A huge contingent of Mrs Mitchell's family and friends let out a sigh of relief when the verdict was delivered before cheers and clapping erupted in the courtroom.
Once the jury had reached their decision, Justice Helen Wilson revealed to them it was not the first time Sloane had been convicted of killing someone.
Sloane was jailed for five years in 1997 for manslaughter after he admitted to killing his former wife's mother at Windale in 1995.
Newcastle Herald