More than two decades after Jason Palmer’s body was pulled from a New South Wales river, his accused killer’s long-awaited Supreme Court trial has begun, with the victim’s wife taking the witness stand to describe the fateful love triangle that preceded her husband’s 2004 death.
Fifty-four-year-old Gofal Baziad has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder. Prosecutors allege Baziad stabbed Palmer to death inside Palmer’s Lakemba unit in early February 2004, then wrapped the victim’s remains in a sleeping bag, weighted the body with heavy rocks, and dumped it in the Nepean River. The core of the Crown’s case centers on the romantic entanglement that linked all three people involved: Baziad had previously been in a relationship with Renny Palmer, Jason Palmer’s wife.
Court documents outline that Jason and Renny Palmer’s marriage had been turbulent for years, with repeated separations that led to a permanent split in 2002. Not long after the separation, Renny began dating Baziad, a relationship that continued until late 2003, when Jason Palmer reached out to repair their marriage. In an unusual confrontation that would set the stage for the alleged murder, Jason Palmer organized a three-way meeting with his wife and Baziad, and demanded Renny make a final choice between the two men.
Speaking to the jury from the witness stand on Monday through a court-appointed interpreter, Renny Palmer confirmed that she ultimately chose to rebuild her marriage with her husband over continuing her relationship with Baziad. “Jason arranged a meeting with the three of us together. Jason asked me to choose between the two of them. I did. I chose Jason,” she told the court.
A key detail that has emerged in pre-trial and opening testimony adds further complexity to the case: court records show that after Jason Palmer’s disappearance and death, Renny Palmer reconnected with Baziad, and the pair maintained a romantic relationship that lasted 14 years, only ending in 2018.
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC laid out the prosecution’s version of events in his opening address, telling the court that Baziad attacked Palmer by first striking him in the head with a glass object, before stabbing him multiple times in the back, hip and chest. The attack is alleged to have happened either late on February 6, 2004 or in the early hours of the following morning at Palmer’s Barremma Road residence.
Three weeks after Palmer was reported missing, kayakers on the Nepean River near Menangle made the grim discovery. His body was found wrapped in a blue-green sleeping bag, secured with yellow rope, and held underwater by two large rocks matched the prosecution’s account of how Baziad disposed of the remains.
Baziad’s trial is ongoing, and the court is expected to hear weeks of further witness testimony and evidence before the case goes to the jury for deliberation.