Murder accused ‘on something’ the night of fire: claim
Witnesses have described murder accused Leigh Matthew Frederick Beer’s erratic and aggressive behaviour as a fire took hold of an apartment where his girlfriend was found dead.
Several witnesses who were first on the scene of the fatal fire on Devon St West gave similar evidence as the second week of the trial of Beer drew to a close in the High Court at New Plymouth yesterday.
The young men had been driving around the city in two separate vehicles when they came across smoke covering the road shortly after 11pm on May 27, 2022.
Connor Carter said he immediately pulled to the side of the road beside the century old villa, which had been converted into four separate apartments, as he saw flames starting to engulf the property with Beer outside.
“He seemed quite erratic, he didn’t want us anywhere near the house,” he said.
The Crown believed that Beer set fire to bedding in the apartment he shared with his 21-year-old girlfriend Emma Field as she lay unconscious on the floor partially underneath a heavy mattress in May 2022.
It is claimed he flipped the mattress over in a fit of rage while she was asleep, with her body discovered by firefighters who attended the blaze.
Beer has denied charges of murder, arson and injuring with intent.
Carter told the court Beer had initially told him and his friends that there were four people inside the villa, a claim he did not really believe given the accused’s behaviour.
“It seemed like he was on something he shouldn’t have been,” he said. “His eyes were like, real fast movements.”
Under cross-examination from defence counsel Julian Hannam, Carter agreed that the scene was dark, hectic and intense and that Beer was really close to the heart of the fire which was in the bedroom he shared with Field.
Carter’s friend, Matthew Edser, said he saw Beer, who was “real rarked up” near the window of the bedroom trying to put the fire out with a hose.
“The whole room was on fire, so you weren’t putting it out with a little hose,” he said.
To questions from fellow defence counsel Nina Laird, Edser agreed that Beer was almost solely focussed on putting the fire out and keeping hold of the hose.
Daryl Gavin, who had been with Carter and Edser, described how firefighters and police had tried to pull Beer back and restrain him before he was eventually overpowered.
All three witnesses also told the court about a fight Beer had got into with a man who had come onto the property as the fire started to engulf the villa.
Gavin said the man appeared to try and drag Beer back because he was so close to the fire and the accused had “beat him up” while they were on the ground.
To questions from Laird, Gavin said he did not agree with earlier evidence that it was Beer who was being hit by the man, although he admitted he did not see what had started the altercation.
The trial, before Justice Karen Grau, will continue on Monday and has been scheduled to last up to four weeks.