Office affair drove wedge in business

An artist's sketch of Gerard Baden-Clay during day one of the committal hearing in Brisbane. Source: The Courier-Mail

GERARD Baden-Clay's disgruntled business partners told him to choose between his wife and his mistress after the affair began to affect their real estate agency, a court was told.

In a third day of evidence in a committal hearing at the Brisbane Magistrates Court, former partners of the real estate agent told of his "on again, off again" affair with colleague Toni McHugh.

The court also heard from a forensic expert who said Baden-Clay's wife Allison, 43, could not have died from an overdose of anti-depressant medication because there was only a "therapeutic dose" in her system when she died.

Baden-Clay, 42, is charged with murdering the mother of his three children and interfering with her corpse on April 20 last year.

The court was told Baden-Clay had many conversations with his former business partner from Century 21 Westside, Phillip Broom, about the affair with Ms McHugh.

Mr Broom said Baden-Clay spoke of needing a bigger car to ferry around both his own children and Ms McHugh's.

"At some points Gerard was leaving his wife to be with Toni, at other points he was leaving Toni to remain with his wife," Mr Broom told the court.

"As complex as it was in nature, it was confusing to me as to whether or not they were in the throes of an affair, had cooled off in their affair (or) had rekindled their affair."

But defence barrister Peter Davis said Mr Broom's business relationship with Baden-Clay "didn't end well"

.

"You obviously don't like him ... do you?" Mr Davis asked Mr Broom.

"You want to say that you're just giving honest evidence here - but you're here to sink the boot in, aren't you?"

Mr Broom disagreed, saying he and Baden-Clay had a "healthy respect" for each other's business skills.

Baden-Clay's other business partner, real estate agent Jocelyn Frost, told the court she was also aware of the affair.

"Certainly that was one of the main reasons the partnership failed at the end," she said.

"We asked him to either leave his wife or leave Toni or we wouldn't continue on."

Dr Robert Hoskins, a senior forensic medical officer with Queensland Health, said he did not believe Allison had enough of the anti-anxiety medication sertraline in her system to have killed her.

"Given the level in the blood, it would be exceptional (if she'd died from it)," he said.

"It's never happened before at that level."

Dr Hoskins also gave evidence about scratches on Baden-Clay's face, neck, shoulder, chest and hand - photographed by police on April 20 after he reported his wife missing.

The court heard Dr Hoskins examined photos of Baden-Clay's injuries to give his opinion on whether they were caused by shaving or someone's fingernails.

"You concluded that they had all the hallmarks of being caused by fingernails," Crown prosecutor Danny Boyle said to Dr Hoskins.

Dr Hoskins agreed, saying the deeper gouges on Baden-Clay's face looked as though they were at least six hours old when they were photographed on the morning Allison was reported missing.

But some smaller scratch marks in the same area looked fresher and could have been made by a razor blade, he said.

Asked by Baden-Clay's defence barrister whether he could rule out the larger marks being caused by shaving, Dr Hoskins said: "I think it's extremely, highly implausible, but I wouldn't rule it out absolutely."

Associate Professor David Wells, head of forensic medicine at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, also said the large scratch marks on Baden-Clay's face were most likely made by fingernails.

"The injuries that I'm seeing in this image, a number of broadly parallel abrasions ... do not represent incised wounds ... (that) one would, associate with a sharp object," he said.

Prof Wells said he also looked at photographs of Allison's fingernails and was of the opinion they were long enough to cause injuries of a "gouging nature".

The court also heard from Sue Heath - a friend of politician Dr Bruce Flegg.

Dr Flegg gave evidence on Tuesday about hearing screams on the night of April 19 while he was talking on the phone to Ms Heath. He also told the court of having to refuse Baden-Clay's request for a substantial loan.

Yesterday, Ms Heath told the court she had loaned Baden-Clay a mobile phone.

She had initially told police in a statement that she had done so without the knowledge of Dr Flegg.

"That's not quite right," Ms Heath said of the statement.

"We did discuss it.

"We agreed that I'd lend him the phone."

She said she had taken the phone to Baden-Clay's parents' home and left it there for him.

She also told the court that before Allison's death she had been asked by Dr Flegg to call Baden-Clay and break the news that they could not help with his request for money.

"He was quite distressed," she said.

"He obviously had problems.

"I actually felt Bruce was not in a position to have that kind of money."

The hearing continues on Monday.

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