Robert ‘Bob’ Mathew Marshall, 42, pleaded not guilty to murdering 38-year-old Adam Cordingley and has argued he acted in self-defence. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to a graphic injury.
Robert Mathew Marshall claims he was acting in self-defence when he stabbed Adam Cordingley with such force that his hunting knife went through bone, his murder trial has heard.
The 42-year-old, who is also known as Bob Marshall, pleaded not guilty to murdering the 38-year-old father-of-four in a NSW Supreme Court trial that began last week.
Jurors previously heard Mr Cordingley was devastated after Mr Marshall had a 12-month affair with Mr Cordingley’s partner, Kate.
Late on the night of 23 March 2024, Mr Marshall returned to his farm at the rural locality of Bungonia, outside Goulburn, to find Mr Cordingley on his property wanting to speak about the affair.
He alleged Mr Cordingley grabbed him and began punching him around his head. He said he had been carrying a hunting knife at the time and didn’t realise he’d stabbed Mr Cordingley until the latter said, “Did you stab me?”
But when closing submissions were held on Monday and Tuesday (1-2 June), prosecutor Nerissa Keay told the jury, “Mr Cordingley is not here to tell you what happened”.
Mr Cordingley had three stab wounds, including a significant 14 to 18 cm deep cut to his hip.
Ms Keay said this deep cut must have required a significant degree of force to inflict as it penetrated bone before hitting an artery. The cut caused significant blood loss, resulting in Mr Cordingley’s quick death.
“This was a deep wound,” Ms Keay said.
She accepted that Mr Cordingley became fixated on the affair after he found out about it in July 2023, but said he was also “hurt and humiliated”.
She said he knew there was a risk of violence when he planned to confront Mr Marshall in person that night, but he also went to this meeting unarmed.
Mr Marshall claimed Mr Cordingley hit him on the head a number of times during the altercation, also describing it as a “belting”. But Ms Keay said he was not left with any significant head injury, nor were there marks on Mr Cordingley’s fists.
After the altercation, Mr Marshall called Triple Zero and said, “My name’s Robert Marshall, I just had someone on my farm try and attack me. I just stabbed him”.
Ms Keay said his first comments about the incident were how Mr Cordingley “tried” to attack him. Also, she said Mr Marshall never stated he had warned Mr Cordingley he was holding a knife.
The prosecutor said Mr Marshall was able to tell police a lot of detail about what happened before the stabbing, but he became “very vague” about how he stabbed Mr Cordingley three times.
“He stabbed an unarmed man repeatedly with a significant degree of force,” she said.
“He is not being completely candid about the critical part of the evening.”
Ms Keay argued Mr Marshall had other options in the situation, did not have to forcefully stab Mr Cordingley and his response was excessive.
“If anything, he was confronted with a fist fight,” she said.
The prosecutor said if the jury found Mr Marshall’s response was not reasonable or proportionate to the threat he perceived, then they should find him guilty of manslaughter.
Mr Marshall’s barrister, David Dalton SC, said the prosecutor seemed to concede Mr Cordingley had been the aggressor in the confrontation, but also seemed to suggest his client should have gotten rid of the knife before getting into a fist fight.
The barrister said his client’s ex-wife, Catherine, organised for Mr Cordingley to “ambush” him without his knowledge when he was going to be at the property alone that night.
“He didn’t want a confrontation with Mr Cordingley, and that is clear all the way since the affair became public,” he said.
Mr Dalton said Mr Cordingley had told Catherine he might be violent if he confronted Mr Marshall.
He said when his client grabbed the hunting knife in his car, he had just seen a stranger’s white ute parked behind his barn and didn’t know it was Mr Cordingley. As he possibly had to deal with an intruder on his property at night, he said the jurors might think it reasonable that he grabbed the knife.
Mr Dalton said the Triple Zero call clearly showed his client reported he only stabbed Mr Cordingley when he was attacked.
He also said a pathologist told the jury a person could punch another in the head and not leave injuries to their victim’s head or their own fists.
“Obviously, Mr Marshall didn’t want this to happen and wishes it didn’t happen,” Mr Dalton said.
The trial continues before Justice Paul McGuire.
Original Article published by Albert McKnight on Region Canberra.
What a fantastic acheivement, especially these days! Bob and his crew need special congratulations!… View