Taranaki farm worker murder: Farm boss called to ‘drama’ gives evidence in Jodie Hughes’ trial

Only moments after two farm workers dragged their beaten and chained colleague along a tanker track, they told their boss, who was called to the “drama”, the victim had been dumped at the rubbish pit.

“You fellas are mad,” the farm owner said before heading home and going to bed.

But Francis Mullan said in the High Court at New Plymouth on Monday while he knew his employee, Jacob Mills Ramsay, had been “taken” down the track, he didn’t know how he got there.

Mullan, who owns and operates a number of farms in South Taranaki, employing more than 20 workers, said he only knew there had been “a scrap” between his staff and that Ramsay, a father of three, was in the pit.

The farm owner had been called by neighbours who said there was a “drama” unfolding on the tanker track at his Kina Road property. He got out of bed and drove over to investigate.

As he travelled down the track, he was met with oncoming headlights. It was William Candy and Ethan Webster, two of Mullan’s farm workers, returning from the farm’s rubbish pit.

They got out of the car and spoke to their boss, who wound down his window and asked what was going on.

“They said they left him in the dump there,” Mullan said while under cross-examination by defence lawyer Tiffany Cooper, KC.

Hughes' trial is being heard in the High Court at New Plymouth. Photo / Tara Shaskey

“I had this vision of them chasing him down the track or doing something, having a fight, maybe running away. I don’t know.

“I didn’t, for one minute, think that they would do that sort of thing, because they were reasonable blokes.”

Mullan was in court giving testimony in the trial of Jodie Shannon Hughes, who has been accused of murdering Ramsay on July 29 last year.

Hughes, 31, was charged alongside Candy, her partner, and Webster, who have both admitted killing Ramsay and were sentenced to life imprisonment in March.

The pair said Ramsay owed them both money and, on the day of his death, Candy gave Ramsay a beating at the Ōakura cemetery before forcing him into Hughes’ vehicle and taking him back to Mullan’s dairy farm in Ōaonui, South Taranaki, where they all worked and lived in separate farmhouses.

At the farm, the attack by Candy, 39, continued and Webster, 19, also jumped in and delivered a number of blows and stomps to an unconscious Ramsay’s head.

Candy then chained Ramsay to the back of the car, and he and Webster dragged him for almost a kilometre along the farm’s tanker track.

His body was dumped into a rubbish pit, where it was found two days later.

When questioned by Crown prosecutor Cherie Clarke, Mullan said his conversation with Candy and Webster on the track that night lasted around two minutes.

Webster was “hyper” and talked about Ramsay being on drugs and money he owed.

Ramsay was killed by his co-workers, William Candy and Ethan Webster.

Mullan said he didn’t want to get involved in his workers’ disagreements.

“They said [Ramsay] was ‘all right’ and he was at the dump paddock.

“Staff have tiffs from time to time, and so I don’t get into it ‘cos you get in trouble once you start taking sides.”

Despite Ramsay failing to show up to work the morning after the “drama”, Mullan did not perform a welfare check on him, nor did he check the pit.

But Mullan said it was not uncommon for Ramsay to pull no-shows.

He was also not the only person who failed to check on Ramsay.

A witness of the track attack told the court last week that he had not checked on Ramsay because he was “fearful for myself and my kids”.

“Fearful of whom,” Clarke asked him.

“Will and Jodie and Ethan,” he responded.

The same witness said he tried to intervene as Webster beat Ramsay, but claimed Hughes shoved him from behind and said, “Let him f***ing do it”.

She was “egging the situation on”, he alleged.

Webster (left) and Candy admitted the murder of Ramsay and were sentenced in March. Photo / Tara Shaskey

He recalled Mullan turning up as Candy and Webster returned from the pit, and said the following day he looked like a “pale old man”.

The witness’ partner gave evidence today, during which she recalled the man breaking down as he relayed to her what he had seen.

“He was a mess,” she said.

In evidence, she said her partner spoke of how Hughes “whacked him around the back of the head” when he tried to step in during the attack.

Under cross-examination, the woman was asked about an evening when Hughes became angry with Candy.

She accepted Candy then proceeded to push Hughes outside and lock the door.

Hughes had accused Candy and the woman of “playing footsies” with one another, which the woman denied happened.

“She was angry ... she was yelling.

“She has this way of - one minute she’s happy and the next minute she’s not. I’ve had a few encounters over the years.”

At the outset of the trial, Hughes pleaded guilty to kidnapping Ramsay and the burglary of his home but maintained her pleas of not guilty to murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH).

The Crown alleges while Hughes did not physically harm Ramsay, she was “very much” involved in Candy’s violence towards him, making her a party to the GBH and murder.

But Cooper said her client had no idea the beating meted out by the men would progress to the deadly level that it did.

The jury has heard Hughes was allegedly so angry with Ramsay’s failure to repay $150 she and Candy lent him that she decided to take matters into her own hands.

She broke into his home and stole his TV, then allegedly implored Candy to help get their money back.

Hughes drove him to Ōakura where the attack on Ramsay began, helped detain him on the ride back to the farm, and has been accused of encouraging the violence, smiling as it played out and stopping others from intervening.

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.

The trial, which is set down for two weeks, continues on Tuesday.

Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a news director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff, where she covered crime and justice, arts and entertainment and Māori issues.