Jodie Shannon Hughes has been on trial in the High Court at New Plymouth for the murder of Taranaki farmworker Jacob Ramsay. Photo / Tara Shaskey
A young mother accused of inciting the horrific death of a farm worker has been acquitted of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.
Jodie Shannon Hughes, 31, has been in the High Court at New Plymouth defending charges of murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) in a trial that began on August 14.
The mother-of-two was charged alongside William Candy, her partner, and Ethan Webster over the death of their co-worker, Jacob Mills Ramsay, on July 29 last year.
Candy and Webster have admitted killing the Taranaki father-of-three and were sentenced to life imprisonment in March.
Today, Justice Matthew Palmer summed up the case to the jury which then began its deliberations at 9.50am.
Around 3pm, the jury indicated it had reached a verdict and Hughes was brought into the courtroom to hear the outcome - guilty to GBH and not guilty to murder. The jury, however, found her guilty of manslaughter, an alternative to murder.
As the unanimous verdicts were delivered by the foreperson, three of the jurors wept.
Hughes, who had sat stone-faced for much of the trial, took deep breaths, her face flushed red. She appeared to be on the brink of tears.
Three members of her family, including her mother, sat behind the dock while family and friends of Ramsay filled almost two rows of the public gallery.
As the verdicts were delivered, there was an eerie silence among the supporters.
Justice Palmer then thanked the jurors for their service and, before dismissing them, excused them from jury duty for the next three years in recognition of “the difficult nature of this case”.
Hughes was remanded back into custody ahead of her sentencing on October 20.
Outside of court, Ramsay’s family and friends gathered together for prayer. His widow, Sarah Tasker, who has attended every day of the trial, politely declined to comment on the outcome.
After eight days of evidence, Crown prosecutor Cherie Clarke and defence lawyer Tiffany Cooper, KC, made their closing addresses to the jury yesterday.
The jury has heard Ramsay was killed over money he owed. In addition to debts he had with Candy and Webster, he had been accused of stealing petrol and tools from the Ōaonui, South Taranaki, dairy farm at which they all worked and lived in separate farmhouses.
On the day of his death, Candy gave him a beating at the Ōakura cemetery before forcing him into Hughes’ vehicle and taking him back to the Kina Rd farm.
When they arrived on the tanker track, Candy continued the attack and Webster also delivered a number of blows and stomps to Ramsay’s head.
Candy then chained Ramsay to the back of a car by his ankle and he and Webster dragged him for almost 1km along a gravel track.
His body was dumped into a rubbish pit at the farm and he was found dead two days later by his employer.
Ramsay suffered more than 30 blunt-force trauma injuries to his head, neck, chest and limbs, as well as lacerations to his scalp, multiple fractures and brain bleeds.
At the outset of the trial, Hughes pleaded guilty to kidnapping Ramsay and the burglary of his home but not guilty to wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) and to murder.
The burglary related to Hughes breaking into Ramsay’s home and stealing two of his TVs, and the kidnapping was when she detained him in her vehicle and drove him back to the farm with Candy.
The Crown had said that while she did not physically harm him, she was “very much” involved in Candy’s violence towards him, making her a party to the GBH and murder.
She had allegedly amped Candy up and used him as “her weapon” against Ramsay, who had failed to repay the couple $250 he owed them for methamphetamine.
In addition to allegedly inciting the violence, she was also accused of stopping others who tried to intervene.
But the defence argued Hughes had no idea the beating meted out by the men would progress to the deadly level that it did, and she had only wanted Candy to confront Ramsay about the money and not to hurt him.
Cooper had suggested the beating of Ramsay was the result of a plan hatched by four men, including Candy and Webster, to deal to him over the money owed and the alleged thefts at the farm.
It was a plot Hughes was not a part of, Cooper said.
Ramsay’s wife, Sarah Tasker, was only weeks away from giving birth to their second child at the time of his death.
Olliver was born in September last year and the couple also share son Hunter, 5. Ramsay was the stepfather of Tasker’s oldest son, Lucus, 11.
Cooper indicated a cultural report and a psychological report would be ordered ahead of Hughes’ sentencing.
Clarke has sought permanent name suppression of two Crown witnesses, which Justice Palmer would consider at a later date.
Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as an Open Justice news director and journalist based in Taranaki. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff covering crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.
He fired a shot which flew past the son's head and through the TV.