A MURDER trial has been told the details of how two men found bones and part of a skull fragment of a man who had been missing for more than a decade.
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The judge-alone trial of Bruce Anthony Coss resumed in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Monday morning after it was suspended last year when the new evidence was discovered.
Coss is accused of killing Darren Royce Willis in Bingara in 2010, and disposing of the body.
Elderly farmer Alfred King appeared via video link in the supreme court and detailed how he went to the area near Doctors Creek, outside of Bingara, and discovered the bones in June, last year.
Mr King said he had known Mr Willis "all his life since he was a little baby".
He told the court that three of his cows went missing about seven years ago and he went looking in the unfenced area of Doctors Creek.
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"I found a bone that could have been his backbone I believe now ... I put it down to a kangaroo tail," he said.
He told officers it was "similar to a roo tail but it didn't have any hair on it" which he thought was odd at the time.
He left the bone where it was, but when information came to light about Narrabri Road, during the course of the murder trial last year, he and his friend Darryl Blackman decided to return to the area on June 22, 2022, to look for themselves.
"I thought I've got to go back there and have another look, which we did," Mr King said.
He said "it's going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack" because of the difficult terrain and vegetative growth out there but "I found the tibia which I believe was out of the leg" and "I found a bone believed to be part of the skull".
The pair then agreed to "take it straight to the police". They returned to Bingara and detectives travelled to visit them that afternoon, before handing over five bones, or fragments.
Mr Blackman also gave evidence via video link and said "we found five bones in all", including part of the skull, which was at the top of the creek.
He said he "could only see half the skull" in the sand, but he laid them on the back of his ute for the detectives.
The following day he took the detectives to the same location and showed them where they had found them.
It's the police case that the remains belong to Mr Willis. The court was told remains had been found in a number of searches by police including in June, August, September and October.
The court has previously heard DNA testing had indicated a "consistent" profile match with Mr Willis.
Mr King and Mr Blackman were some of several witnesses including forensic officers and former work colleagues of Coss who gave evidence on Monday.
Coss has pleaded not guilty to murder. He was arrested after a renewed investigation in 2019.
The trial before Justice Hament Dhanji is due to run for two weeks.
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Breanna Chillingworth
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
