Days after telling her solicitor she was separated from her pilot husband, Frances Crawford said she needed “to get out of this relationship”, and later revealed her husband had withdrawn thousands of dollars and left her with only $150 in their account, a court has heard.
Former Royal Australian Air Force pilot Robert Crawford allegedly killed his wife, who was found near a ride-on lawnmower at the bottom of a retaining wall at the couple’s sprawling property in rural south-east Queensland in 2024.
Frances’ death came just days after the couple’s last session with a psychotherapist, who gave evidence on Monday that Frances was working on an “exit plan” to leave the marriage.
The prosecution has described Crawford as a “love rat”, a womaniser and a master manipulator, who had a string of extramarital affairs with at least 10 women over a decade, including three air force colleagues.
Crawford allegedly killed his wife 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 Crawford believed his wife died while moving the mower because the sprinklers were going to come on.
Frances’ solicitor, Meagan Murrell, told the court on Tuesday that Frances had contacted her on July 14, 2023, via text message to talk about “possible divorce settlement issues”. In the message, Frances wrote she had “just separated yesterday”.
In messages sent in the following days, Frances detailed how Crawford had taken “$6000 out of our funds to pay lawyer and left me with $150”.
The jury was shown a series of messages between Frances and Murrell in which Frances went back and forth about the separation. On July 22, she wrote: “Can you please go ahead with financial separation. I need to get out of this relationship.”
She later messaged asking to put a pause on the financial settlement, apologising and saying “may be getting somewhere with relationship”.
On September 20, 2023, at 8pm she messaged Murrell asking to “please go ahead with financial settlement”, and apologising for vacillating.
The court heard Murrell had discussed the couple’s assets, which included the Upper Lockyer property, valued at about $2 million, and an adjacent 100-acre block. The Crawfords also had $350,000 in an offset account, Crawford’s larger superannuation, vehicles and dirt bikes.
Murrell told the court she had discussed with Frances her part-time wage, and that Crawford would likely not want to part with his superannuation, given it would affect his retirement timing.
The primary factor in the split would have been the significant income-earning disparity, according to Murrell, given Frances’ part-time wage and Crawford’s consistent employment with the RAAF.
She said this led her to believe Frances would “receive more than 50 per cent” in the split.
She said Frances was concerned about finances, and that Crawford would pull money out of the accounts.
Senior Sergeant Stephen Coote, from the Forensic Crash Unit within the Queensland Police Service, earlier told the court the scene was regarded as suspicious when he arrived at the property.
The jury was shown a series of photos of the mower overturned on its side, with the wheel turned to the right. Coote said it was his preliminary opinion that the mower went over the wall in reverse, before tipping.
Coote, who had done almost 400 crash investigations, said this probe was not as hands on, and things would have been done differently if it was a standard crash. He said he did not want to affect the scene.
He said the mower had a mechanism ensuring it would only operate if weight or pressure was applied to the seat, however he said this did not work properly.
Coote gave evidence about the mower and his later testing of the machine in a depot. He told the court the mower had a total weight of about 220 kilograms, and it moved at 1.54 kilometres an hour in reverse with the throttle about halfway, as it was found by police.
Under cross-examination by defence barrister Saul Holt KC, Coote was asked whether there was ever a dummy test to reconstruct the scene. Coote said no, explaining there would be issues, including safety and damage to the mower.
Coote was grilled by Holt over scratch marks on the top of the retaining wall, and whether he contemplated alternative scenarios. Holt put to Coote that he did not take into account the prospect that the mower was on a turning circle and tipped off the ledge.
Coote said it would be inconsistent with the evidence he observed.
Holt put to Coote that if the mower was in reverse and one of the wheels went over the edge, it did not matter how fast it was going, it would still fall. Coote confirmed that it would.
The trial on Monday heard evidence from psychotherapist Fakhrolsadat Seyed Aghamiri, who said Frances had told her of ongoing abuse by her husband, and that she felt unsafe.
During the sessions, which ran from October 2023 to late July 2024 – a few days before Frances’ death – Crawford had disclosed details of affairs, financial deception, and pornography use.
Frances had sought Aghamiri’s services so her husband could undergo a polygraph test to verify the disclosures.
In the last session, on July 25, 2024, Frances was working on an “exit plan” to separate from Crawford, the court heard.
The trial before Justice Lincoln Crowley continues.
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