Amber Haigh told a woman she befriended at a train station three months before she disappeared that the man accused of murder gave her alcohol, tied her to the bed and had sex with her, a court heard.
Haigh was a 19-year-old mother when she disappeared from the NSW Riverina in July 2002, leaving behind her five-month-old son.
Now her child’s father, 64-year-old Robert Geeves, and his wife, Anne Geeves, are on trial, each charged with murder. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Relating to: ‘A very vulnerable young woman’: What happened to Amber Haigh?
Petrina Ingram met Haigh in March 2002 after they were both stranded at Cootamundra railway station for several hours after their trains were delayed, the court heard. The pair had lunch and ice cream together.
Haigh was travelling to Sydney with her young son, still in his pram, and Ingram told the high court on Monday that Haigh was “clearly in love with her son”.
When Ingram complimented Haigh on her stroller or blanket — “I can’t remember which” — Haigh replied that it was a gift from his wife, the father of her child.
“I was shocked, that comment shocked me… I was like, ‘What? Does he know about the baby?'”
Ingram told the court Haigh spoke to him about his relationship with Robert and Anne Geeves.
“He told me that both the husband and wife would come to his house in Young and bring alcohol with them. They would all drink until they were full. [Haigh] “She said she was drunk and her wife went home and her husband tied her to the bed and had sex with her.”
Ingram told the court he kept a diary in 2002 and wrote an account of the conversation in his diary that night. He also told his partner.
Ingram said he saw a report three months later, in June 2002, that Haigh was missing and asked anyone with information to come forward.
Ingram told the court that he called CrimeStoppers to report his conversation with Haigh to police, including Haigh’s statements about being tied up, and was told a detective would call him back.
She said she called CrimeStoppers twice more in the years that followed, once in 2008 when she saw a news report about Haigh’s disappearance, but never heard back.
He said he was eventually contacted by Senior Const Amanda Cary, a murder detective who had been reassigned to the case, in 2024. During cross-examination, Ingram admitted he was “disappointed” that police had not called sooner.
Before Ingram’s testimony, the court heard legal arguments about the admissibility of his evidence and that of other witnesses. Defence counsel argued that the probative value of the evidence of Haigh’s alleged involvement in the alleged assault outweighed any prejudice against Geeves.
Judge Julia Lonergan ultimately ruled in favour of admitting Ingram’s evidence, saying it did not unfairly prejudice Robert or Anne Geeves. The judge did not rule on the evidence of the other witnesses.
He said Haigh had told the same or similar information “multiple times” to other people in his life, some of whom are expected to give evidence later in the case.
Haigh’s unsolved disappearance has been an enduring mystery in the Harden area of the Riverina where he was living at the time. He leaves behind a five-month-old son whom he “adored” and “never let go of his sight”, the court heard.
Haigh’s body was never found.
In 2022, the NSW government offered a $1 million reward for information leading to a conviction into her disappearance and possible murder.
The prosecution alleged in court that Haigh, who was described in court as mentally disabled and “very easily misled”, was used as a “surrogate mother” by the Geeves couple because they wanted another baby.
It is alleged that after Haigh’s baby was born (fathered by Robert Geeves) they wanted to “remove him from the equation” by killing him.
Haigh was last seen on June 5, 2002. The court was told the Geeves couple had taken him to Campbelltown railway station that evening, from where they went to visit his sick father and had not heard from him since.
They told police Haigh had left his five-month-old son in their care.
Relating to: Woman accused of murdering teenage girl Amber Haigh watched her having sex with husband, court hears
The Geeves family reported Haigh missing two weeks later, on June 19, 2002. In 2011, a coroner ruled that Haigh died sometime in 2002 as a result of “homicide or accident.”
The high court had previously heard that the Geeves couple had one child – they had a son the same age as Haigh, who was previously in love – but the couple wanted more children, so they suffered three miscarriages and a stillbirth.
“The theory of the Crown case is that Geeves always intended to have custody and care of the child. [the child] “From Amber, but they knew that to do that, Amber had to be removed from the equation… so, the crown claims, they killed her.”
The court heard the crown case was circumstantial but due to the lack of forensic evidence relating to Haigh’s disappearance it will rely on witness statements from people who knew Haigh and were concerned he was exploited and mistreated by the Geeves family.
The court heard the crown case will also include evidence from phone taps placed on the Geeves’ home and car in 2002, which were re-transcribed in 2019 and significant inconsistencies from the original transcriptions were discovered. These will be challenged in court.
Lawyers for Robert and Anne Geeves have argued that the case against the couple, now married for more than two decades, is deeply flawed, claiming that “public disapproval” of Robert Geeves’ relationship with a “much younger woman who is mentally disabled” has fuelled “gossip and innuendo”.
“Everything they did was viewed through a fog of distrust and suspicion,” the court was told.
The trial, which took place in isolation in Wagga Wagga, continues.