Donna Jones
A man who was a prison acquaintance of convicted ‘Esky Killer’ Stephen John Armitage, has been reported as pleading guilty to a charge of witness retaliation in the Maroochydore Magistrates court last week.
Jesse James Clarke reportedly served time in the same correctional centre at the same time as Armitage and the pair became friends.
The court heard that three days after Clarke’s parole on 4 May, 2022, he hand delivered a letter to a witness from Armitage’s trial on behalf of the convicted killer.
Armitage and two other men were jailed in 2018 for the murder in 2014 of Gold Coast man Shaun Barker, whose charred remains were found in the Toolara Forestry.
During Armitage’s trial, details emerged that the three men had kept Mr Barker confined in a fishing esky and physically interrogated him before he died.
The murder charges were downgraded to manslaughter after Armitage’s successful appeal in 2019.
It is reported that Crown prosecutor Michael Andronicus alleged Clarke had delivered the letter and told the witness it was from Armitage.
Judge Michael Byrne reportedly read out parts of the letter which contained threats by Armitage that he would make false statements about the witness regarding sexual offences and he would make a tell-all podcast.
The court heard Armitage phoned Clarke nine days later and allegedly said the witness needed more persuading, and that Clarke again visited the witness, insisting the witness change their testimony.
Defence barrister Bri MacKenzie wasn’t successful in submitting Clarke was simply an accessory, with Judge Byrne reportedly saying Clarke was a principal offender because the crime could not have occurred without his input.
Clarke’s parole was suspended in May last year and he was reincarcerated, and Judge Burn’s sentence of 12 month prison wholly suspended for two years was declared as time served due to the 378 days he has spent in custody since the suspension of his parole.
He remains in prison to serve out the remainder of his five year and eight month sentence for drug related charges from 2021.
Armitage has not entered pleas to similar charges brought against him and has lodged an application with the Gympie Magistrates Court to cross-examine witnesses.