Jury in murder trial sees graphic wounds to wife’s head and neck

A Queensland mother suffered injuries consistent with being strangled 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.

But a forensic pathologist said he could not rule out the scenario where she died from a mower rollover, Robert Crawford’s trial has heard.

The former Royal Australian Air Force pilot 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.

Crown prosecutor Chris Cook asked Kedziora about whether her injuries were consistent with being placed in a chokehold or strangulation.

Kedziora said his first thought when seeing scratch marks on her neck during the autopsy were that it was strangulation.

He said he could not make that diagnosis given injuries were non-specific. He confirmed Frances’ injuries were consistent with strangulation.

He said an injury to Frances’ neck area could have been caused by clothing rubbing, or an arm, while her head moved around.

He said bruising on her chest may have been caused by an arm while Frances was trying to free herself.

When asked whether he had a scenario that he preferred, Kedziora said he had not seen the mower in person, only photos.

Kedziora said he found it “difficult to reconcile those injuries” with the scenario that she fell under the mower, with the steering wheel at an angle under the neck and the engine over the body.

He said unless he was presented with another scenario more likely, the injuries were consistent with being strangled.

Frances had suffered fractures to her thyroid cartilage.

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.

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.

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 said the broken fingernail could have been caused by Frances trying to free herself and her finger then slipped.

Kedziora told the court he found her cause of death to be the injuries to Frances’ head and neck.

Under cross-examination by defence barrister Saul Holt, KC, Kedziora said he could not rule out the lawn mower scenario.

Kedziora said he reviewed images of the mower two days ago, and explained he had been “puzzled” by trying to figure out how the body “could lie so that the steering wheel would cause this brush abrasion [to the neck].”

He said the angle of the steering wheel was “very weird”.

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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