Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au

Aaron Bunch
Man dumped at murdered Qld pair’s home

A witness at a trial for a woman accused of murdering two Brisbane siblings says he was taken to their home and dumped before it burst into flames.

March 10, 2020

A man who was dumped at a Brisbane house minutes before it burst into flames has told a murder trial he believes he was taken there to be killed.

Witness Paul Cook says he has never met Danielle Lee Fels, who is accused of murdering April Bailey, 29, and her brother Ian Bailey, 31, on May 28, 2004.

But the bearded driller from western Queensland agreed he was at the dead sibling’s home in Deception Bay, north of Brisbane, the day it burned to the ground.

“I dodged a bullet. The only reason they took me there was to probably knock me too because I was a thorn in their side,” he told the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Mr Cook said his ex-wife and her partner left him at the home after they had a closed-door meeting with Mr and Ms Bailey in one of the bedrooms.

“They all walked in there. Two walked out. There was no yelling and screaming, bangs (or) crashes, none of that,” he said.

“It was dead quiet. (My ex-wife and her partner) shut the door behind them, marched towards the door and said we’ll be back in five minutes.”

“I figured they were just doing drug deals,” he added.

Mr Cook said he didn’t see Mr and Ms Bailey again and left the home before his ex-wife and her partner returned.

“The joint stunk. There was s*** everywhere,” he said.

“There was no frigging television and no music, nothing, so I got the s**** real quick sitting in a grub house doing nothing for too long.”

Mr Cook said as he walked down the road he heard sirens and spotted smoke above the trees about 20 minutes later but didn’t realise it was the Bailey’s home burning.

“As far as I knew I was dropped at a s***hole and walked away. I didn’t know any of this was going on,” he said.

“I just thought I’d been posted by the bastards in the middle of nowhere.”

Mr and Ms Bailey’s badly charred bodies were found inside the kitchen and lounge room of their burned-out home.

Fels has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and arson.

The Crown alleges she did not act alone.

No one else has been charged with the alleged offences and the police investigation remains open.

The trial continues.

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