Bail granted. wow
A former army major who allegedly murdered his wife on a kayak trip north of Brisbane has been granted bail.
Graeme Davidson, 55, who moved to Thailand after the 2020 drowning of his wife Jacqueline northwest of Brisbane, was charged with murder, fraud and attempted fraud in May this year.
Police allege he murdered Mrs Davidson and then claimed more than $230,000 in the weeks following his wife’s death from a superannuation life insurance payout and then attempted to claim nearly $1 million more from another life insurance policy but this was held up as investigations continued.
The Crown opposed bail for Davidson pointing to alleged inconsistencies in his account of what happened to Jacqueline when she drowned at Lake Samsonvale in November 2020.
The Crown also claimed he posed a risk of reoffending.
But defence barrister Craig Eberhardt said the Crown case was “fundamentally weak” with no witness claiming to have seen Mrs Davidson drowned by her husband, who he said had co-operated with police.
“There was no evidence that pointed to the fact that she had been violently assaulted by anyone, and it remains entirely possible that she simply got a fright, overbalanced, fell into the water and drowned,” he said.
Graeme Davidson has been charged with the murder of his wife Jacqueline Davidson, 54.
Justice Tom Sullivan granted bail to Davidson in Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday.
He said he saw the case as neutral and agreed with Crown that it could not be described as strong.
The bail came with conditions including a $250,000 surety, reporting to police every day, a 5km exclusion from airports in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast and exclusion on attending the Brisbane cruise terminal.
A former army major who allegedly murdered his wife on a kayak trip north of Brisbane has been granted bail.
Graeme Davidson, 55, who moved to Thailand after the 2020 drowning of his wife Jacqueline northwest of Brisbane, was charged with murder, fraud and attempted fraud in May this year.
Police allege he murdered Mrs Davidson and then claimed more than $230,000 in the weeks following his wife’s death from a superannuation life insurance payout and then attempted to claim nearly $1 million more from another life insurance policy but this was held up as investigations continued.
The Crown opposed bail for Davidson pointing to alleged inconsistencies in his account of what happened to Jacqueline when she drowned at Lake Samsonvale in November 2020.
The Crown also claimed he posed a risk of reoffending.
But defence barrister Craig Eberhardt said the Crown case was “fundamentally weak” with no witness claiming to have seen Mrs Davidson drowned by her husband, who he said had co-operated with police.
“There was no evidence that pointed to the fact that she had been violently assaulted by anyone, and it remains entirely possible that she simply got a fright, overbalanced, fell into the water and drowned,” he said.
Graeme Davidson has been charged with the murder of his wife Jacqueline Davidson, 54.
Justice Tom Sullivan granted bail to Davidson in Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday.
He said he saw the case as neutral and agreed with Crown that it could not be described as strong.
The bail came with conditions including a $250,000 surety, reporting to police every day, a 5km exclusion from airports in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast and exclusion on attending the Brisbane cruise terminal.
