After hitting his estranged wife in the head with a sledgehammer, Shaun Robert Sturgess went out drinking, a jury has heard.
Mother-of-two Jacqueline Sturgess, 45, was left lying face down in a pool of her own blood until her body was discovered the next day by police.
Married for 17 years, she had separated from Sturgess and left the family home north of Brisbane with their two daughters in February 2020.
When she returned in April to pick up property at the Narangba house, Sturgess struck her at least once from behind with a 1.8kg sledgehammer in a fit of rage, the Crown alleged.
Unable to come to terms with the separation, Sturgess “lost his s***” after discussing child support payments with his wife and “bludgeoned” her, the jury heard.
Sturgess later told police “she probably didn’t deserve that eh, but she’s a c*** … she drove me to this basically”, crown prosecutor Chris Cook said.
Ms Sturgess suffered severe skull fractures and brain injuries.
“She died on the floor in front of the desk she was getting for her daughter,” Mr Cook told Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Sturgess disposed of the sledgehammer over the back fence and walked to the nearby bottle shop, leaving his phone and their dog at the house.
After buying alcohol he got a taxi to his mate’s place where he spent the night drinking, the jury was told.
Sturgess allegedly told the taxi driver: “I’m in trouble hey, haha.
“It’s all over man … my life’s f***ed, I am dead serious.”
Not once did he mention his wife to his friend that night, the jury heard.
The next day his mate asked Sturgess if he was OK.
Sturgess allegedly replied: “My mum and dad are going to hate me, no c*** is ever going to speak to me again.”
The jury was told Sturgess then began crying, saying: “I failed, she’s gone, she’s gone – I f***ing killed her.
“I told her not to come over because I had been drinking and wasn’t in a good place.
“She then rocked up and started on me, when she started on me I … cleaned her up.”
It was alleged when his mate suggested he go back and check on his wife, Sturgess said: “No bro, she’s gone. I am not going back there.”
In the meantime, the daughters had been trying to locate their mother, prompting a friend to ask police to make a welfare check.
A picture of what police saw when they discovered Ms Sturgess’s body at the Narangba house was shown in court.
It was alleged Sturgess told police: “It just unfolded … I bludgeoned her I suppose.”
He allegedly later told officers that his wife was a narcissist “not that that matters now” but he “didn’t want to kill her hey”.
Sturgess told police his wife was talking about child support before the attack, accusing her of fleecing money and taking him “for a ride”, Mr Cook said.
The Crown alleged Sturgess sent a letter to his daughter in June 2020 that said: “I deserve to forfeit my own life for all my pathetic, cowardly, psychotic actions.
“For two seconds of uncontrollable rage so many lives have been changed forever.”
Defence barrister Chris Wilson said there was no dispute that Sturgess struck the fatal blow.
However, he said the jury had to decide whether there was an intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm when Sturgess hit his wife.
Sturgess, 53, has pleaded not guilty to murder at the trial before Justice Melanie Hindman.
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