00:01A two-day committal hearing has wrapped up in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court today
00:06examining the alleged murders of Taylor Ann Black and eight-week-old baby Murphy Margaret.
00:11It is alleged husband and father Matthew James Cox murdered the pair on August 8, 2023
00:16before flying that afternoon from Rockhampton to Brisbane, 600 kilometres away. Mr Cox presented
00:23himself to a Brisbane police station two days later on August 10, 2023. Rockhampton Police
00:29were tasked by their Brisbane colleagues to do a welfare check at the Beans Street property in the
00:34suburb of Park Avenue where they discovered the bodies of Taylor and Murphy. A committal hearing
00:39began before Magistrate Peter Cuskey at the Rockhampton Magistrates Court yesterday and ran for
00:44two days. In total 19 witnesses were cross-examined in person and on video link including members of
00:51Mr Cox's family and Miss Black's family and passages on the August 8 flight from Rockhampton to Brisbane
00:56Mr Cox had travelled on. It was heard in court Mr Cox's behaviour in the airport was erratic and
01:01unusual. Passengers recalled him saying g'day to everyone. One passenger recalled Mr Cox tried to
01:07give him money to help him get on the flight and that Mr Cox wouldn't be able to get on
01:12the flight
01:12without his help. Magistrate Cuskey ordered the oral evidence and written statements were sufficient
01:17to put Mr Cox on trial. Mr Cox declined to enter a plea. Mr Cox was ordered to stand trial
01:23in the
01:24Rockhampton Supreme Court with a jury of Rockhampton residents at a date to be set. He was remanded in custody.
Comments