Jury Hears Bugged Whispers
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday June 8, 2007
THE night before police wanted to question him about his grandfather's murder, Ben Clark and his father allegedly held a whispered discussion about what he would say - which was secretly recorded by police.
"Just in case, mate," Michael Rex Clark, 44, is recorded as saying to Ben, 24, on the night of July 11, 2005. "At the start we made a pact ... in it until the end."With special infra-red wireless headphones to help hear the whispers, and following the conversation with the aid of a transcript, a Supreme Court jury - as well as Acting Justice David Patten, five lawyers, Michael Clark and his wife Jennifer Ann Clark - all listened as Michael Clark allegedly told Ben to say he knew nothing about money. The Crown alleges that Michael Clark, deeply in debt, was motivated with his son to have his 74-year-old father killed to gain access to a $660,000 inheritance. Ernest Clark, the jury has been told, had talked about paying off the mortgage of his long-term girlfriend, Jessica Chung, the other beneficiary of his will, and buying her a fish and chip shop. In one of a series of bugged conversations in their Faulconbridge home after Ernest Clark was shot dead at Bexley in April 2005, Michael Clark allegedly whispers to his son that with his half of the inheritance in the bank, compound interest would add another $35,000 in five months. "Don't let them crack ya ... remember it's the long term ... it's a lot of money, Ben ... If they attach us together ... we're f---ed ... because I'm the beneficiary." At one point he allegedly points out to Ben: "Because if it's one person, right, it's provocation. If it was two people it was a plot." Three days after the conversation, Ben made admissions to police, Detective Sergeant Joseph Maree said yesterday, and has since pleaded guilty to murdering his grandfather, claiming he acted alone due to provocation. Michael Clark has pleaded not guilty to murder and Jennifer Ann Clark has denied hindering a police investigation. The trial continues today.
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald