Oftentimes parents have a sixth sense when it comes to preserving the wellbeing of their children. For that matter, they often have a knack for knowing things that their child doesn’t, and that’s where truly dedicated parenting starts.
While Allison’s parents had never cared much for her husband Gerard, they never believed in their wildest nightmares that he would ever do anything to physically harm their daughter. When they turned out to be wrong on that count, it would cost them a lot more than they’d bargained for…
Happy Couple
When Allison and Gerard met, it was love at first sight by all accounts. Allison just loved Gerard’s classic British accent, and he felt the same way about this exotic Australian girl who rocked his world. They soon became an item, and marriage became a foregone conclusion…It was only a matter of time.
Family Moves
Gerard was in fact born and bred in Bournemouth, a large city on the south coast of England. However, back in 1970, the year Gerard was born, his parents were struggling financially, and when they got the opportunity of a new start in Rhodesia, they jumped at the chance…
Moving Down Under
Having lived in Rhodesia for a few years the family still weren’t quite settled. Rhodesia was an unrecognised state in southern Africa from 1965-1979, and is now known formally as Zimbabwe. When Gerard was still young the family upped and moved once again; this time settling in Brookfield, Australia.
Normal Life
Years after moving down under Gerard met Allison and after their wedding they moved into a house on Brookfield Road in Brisbane. They lived a wholly average and unremarkable life, but Allison’s parents always had the sense in the pit of their stomachs that something just wasn’t right with their son-in-law; the arguments, the screaming, the look on his face. It was hard to pinpoint but it was there…
Reported Missing
Allison’s parents’ worst fears were confirmed when, suddenly one day, their daughter was reported missing. Gerard calmly called 911, saying to the dispatcher, “My, my wife isn’t home. Um, I don’t know where she is.” He later told police that Allison had stepped out for a walk at 10 pm the night before but had never returned home.
Self Importance
Gerard was the type of person who attributed more importance to himself than was warranted in reality. A prominent real estate agent and president of his local chamber of commerce, Gerard had an overinflated opinion of himself, and he didn’t treat his wife the way a gentleman should; especially and ex-British gentleman…
His Story
When police arrived to question him, Gerard kept reeling out the same story; that he had left his wife on the sofa the night before watching a football program, and assumed she had gone out for her nightly walk. When he came down in the morning, he claimed, the TV was still on but his wife was nowhere to be seen.
Something Strange
Gerard claimed he was off to a conference when he greeted officers at the door. While they were quite impressed with his dapper attire, tie and cufflinks and all, they were even more impressed by the jagged red lines which streamed down Gerard’s face. He claimed he had cut himself shaving but the officers knew better…
Affair Exposed
One of the first questions the officers asked Gerard was “Is everything OK between you and Allison?” With that, Gerard admitted that he was having an affair and that when Allison had found out all hell had broken loose. Constable Ash knew the man was lying and immediately called his boss, Senior Sergeant Narelle Curtis who made her way to the house.
Frantically Worried
Gerard claimed that he panicked when his wife was nowhere to be seen in the morning. He showed officers a text message on his phone, which was sent to Allison’s cell phone and read, “Good morning! Hope you slept well? Where are you? None of the girls are up yet! Love G.” He then waited 20 minutes until he activated the “Find my Friends” app on his phone…
Playing Dumb
Gerard sent another text message to Allison’s phone a few minutes later, which read, “Al, getting concerned. Where are you? The app doesn’t say either. (Two of the girls) now up. I’m dressed and about to make lunches. Please just text me back or call! Love G.” By this time, his father and sister Olivia were on their way to scour the area and try to locate Allison.
Truth Comes Out
Gerard tried his hardest to fool the police but it was all in vain. When they asked him to accompany them downtown for a formal statement, he asked to speak to a lawyer. Was he about to admit his guilt? For now, Allison was still missing, as police checked every hospital in Brisbane to try and locate her…
Finding Allison
The police had now triangulated Allison’s cell phone, confirming it was “somewhere out back.” Gerard barely reacted to the ploy and this raised even more suspicion among the officers present. Everyone had a bad feeling by this stage, but Gerard was still as cool as a cucumber.
Doctor Appointment
Gerard sure was concerned with those scratches on his face, as he went ahead and made an appointment first thing at the local Kenmore Clinics Medical Practice with his doctor, Dr. Candice Beaven. He asked her to take a look at the suspicious gauges to his face, telling her repeatedly that he had cut himself shaving with an old razor. But she wasn’t buying it any more than the police were…
DNA Time
Later that day and Gerard found himself at the police station once again, but this time with his lawyer standing by his side. He was swabbed for DNA just in case Allison was found dead, but he still appeared to be really relaxed and didn’t come across as a man who had just murdered his wife.
Ten Days
It was just ten days later when Allison’s body would be found by a canoeist at Kholo Creek, Anstead, around 8 miles from the couples’ home. By this stage, and with the strange scratches on Gerard’s face, Police were ready to bring charges. However, they were lacking solid evidence to tie Gerard to the actual murder…
Body Moved
According to the Crown Prosecutor, Todd Fuller, who spoke about the previous affair between Gerard and a woman called Toni, Gerard had motive to kill his wife, “He wanted to leave his wife and be with Toni McHugh,” he said. “Although on the other hand, he was saying he wanted his marriage to work.” More worrying was his next statement, “The body was taken to Kholo Creek to hide the truth and for the elements to take its hold.” If that was true, it was probably only a matter of time before Allison’s husband would be found guilty.
Death At Home
The prosecution put forward the suggestion that Allison may well have been murdered at home and then moved, “Plant samples recovered from the body tell us something happened at their Brookfield home, such that some of those plant samples became entwined in Allison Baden-Clay’s hair before she was transferred to Kholo Creek.” But there was more damning evidence…
Too Many Coincidences
Even to the legally untrained eye, Gerard Baden-Clay appears to be as guilty as sin. There was also Allison’s blood found in the family car, and the scratches on Gerard’s face also extended to his torso and other parts of his body. “The blood in the car tells us the car was used to transport her to Kholo Creek… (and) suggests Allison Baden-Clay had an injury of some sort at the time she was in the back of that vehicle.” Said Fuller.
Justice Served
When it came to court for the final verdict, the evidence against Baden-Clay was simply overwhelming, despite his desperate pleas of innocence. He was found guilty by the Brisbane Supreme Court and sentenced to life behind bars, with a non-parole period of 15 years. After a long and complicated court case justice was finally served and Allison’s family were given the closure they needed about the hunch they had always had about their daughter’s husband.
Parents Of Slain Wife Claim They Knew Husband Was Bad News From The Get Go is an article from: LifeDaily
