Overview
- Jurors were shown a nearly two‑hour police interview from June 2019 in which Mark Waden admitted lying about using Border Force threats and said he once restrained and slapped Priscilla Brooten.
- Prosecutors allege Brooten was killed at the Bracken Ridge home in July 2018 and that her body was later concealed and removed, but her remains have never been found.
- Police testified they photographed and later excavated areas of Waden’s yard in May 2019, collected soil samples and recorded Waden making trips to the Nudgee transfer centre during their inquiry.
- The defence says there is no body and no direct forensic link to prove murder, and it urges jurors to treat the case as one built on circumstantial connections rather than conclusive evidence.
- The trial highlights how ‘no‑body’ homicide cases depend on chains of indirect evidence and will test whether the jury accepts the prosecution’s timeline after an eight‑year gap between the alleged disappearance and the current proceedings.