Taranaki farm worker murder: Jodie Hughes gives evidence in her own defence

Jodie Shannon Hughes is on trial in the High Court at New Plymouth for the murder of Taranaki farm worker Jacob Ramsay. Photo / Tara Shaskey

A woman accused of taking part in the murder of a farm worker claims he was still conscious while he was chained to the back of a car and he had tried to stop it from driving forward.

“He was sitting up with his arms out to the back. To me, he was trying to stop the car from moving,” Jodie Shannon Hughes said in evidence of the night Jacob Mills Ramsay was beaten and dragged to his death.

Hughes said he had yelled “no, no” before the car began slowly rolling along the tanker track.

She did not hear any further noise from Ramsay.

While Hughes claimed to have not seen him being chained to the car, she said she saw him being pulled toward the vehicle by his leg.

Prior to that, she saw a chain being handled by her partner, William Candy, but said at that point she walked away and covered her ears.

She thought it was going to be used to hit him.

On Tuesday, Hughes gave evidence in her own defence in the High Court at New Plymouth where she is on trial for the murder of Ramsay on July 29 last year.

Hughes, 31, was charged alongside Candy and Ethan Webster who have both admitted to killing the Taranaki father of three and were sentenced to life imprisonment in March.

The men said Ramsay owed them both money and, on the day of his death, Candy gave Ramsay a beating at the Ōakura cemetery before forcing him into Hughes’ vehicle and taking him back to a dairy farm in Ōaonui, South Taranaki, where they all worked and lived in separate farmhouses.

At the Kina Rd farm, the attack by Candy, 39, continued and Webster, 19, jumped in and delivered a number of blows and stomps to his co-worker’s head.

Candy then chained Ramsay to the back of the car, and he and Webster dragged him for almost a kilometre along the farm’s tanker track.

Ramsay was killed by his co-workers, William Candy and Ethan Webster.

His body was dumped into a rubbish pit, where it was found two days later.

The Crown closed its case this morning and following a three-hour adjournment, Hughes was called to the witness box by her lawyer, Tiffany Cooper, KC.

Hughes began her testimony by stating she endured a difficult childhood and as a consequence, she now suffered mental health issues.

Being led by Cooper, she listed anger problems, anxiety, struggling to deal with her emotions and self-harm as problems she often faced.

The mother of two said her previous romantic relationships were “not good at all” and had featured violence, cheating and dishonesty.

Hughes referred to her daily habit of smoking marijuana, an addiction she’d had since she was 12, and also spoke of a nine-year issue with methamphetamine.

While her evidence went on to paint Candy as an unfaithful and dishonest partner who “got physical” with her at times, she said when they first got together in 2018, it was positive.

He was great with her kids and she felt secure, Hughes said.

“He was comforting. He made me feel loved.”

Then in 2019, Candy got the Kina Rd farm job and the couple and Hughes’ children moved into a farmhouse provided as part of the role. Life felt good for a time, she said.

But Hughes, who had been off meth for three years at that point, said she then began dabbling with the class A drug again.

This was under the influence of Candy, she said in evidence. He made all of the decisions in their relationship, she stated a number of times.

Webster (left) and Candy admitted the murder of Ramsay and were sentenced in March. Photo / Tara Shaskey

It was drugs that eventually caused a beef between Hughes and Ramsay, who was found to have meth in his system at the time of his death.

Ramsay and Candy had bought $500 worth of meth and the three of them smoked it together.

Hughes said Candy later told her that $250 of that purchase was owed to him by Ramsay.

She testified she was angered by this, stating she had not wanted there to be an outstanding payment on it.

But Hughes went on to believe that Candy was lying to her about the debt. She thought the money had been recovered by him in some form and he and Ramsay were secretly smoking meth together.

Her self-described “paranoia and insecurity” heightened as Candy failed to chase Ramsay up for the cash.

Despite her believing there was no longer a debt, she began texting Ramsay, ordering him to pay up.

“I knew William was up to something behind my back and I wanted to the truth”.

The morning Ramsay was murdered, Hughes broke into his house and stole two of his TVs, which in evidence she accepted was an “extreme move” but said made her “feel better”.

She and Candy went on to spend much of the day arguing through text message, during which she implored him to return to Ramsay’s house with her and take more of his property, but this never happened.

That afternoon, Candy returned home from work and Hughes said in evidence she overheard him saying to someone on the phone, “I’ll go get him”.

Candy told her he was referring to picking up Ramsay and bringing him back to the farm where he would own up to a number of thefts to farm owner Francis Mullan.

She told Candy she would drive and they headed to the Ōakura cemetery.

Hughes said while she understood why Candy assaulted Ramsay at the cemetery, due to money owed and the alleged farm thefts, it was unexpected.

Ramsay was “fine” on the ride back to the farm.

Candy directed Hughes to drive to the tanker track rather than Mullan’s house, and when they arrived Ramsay tried to exit the vehicle himself, she testified.

A Crown witness previously told the court Ramsay was unconscious when he arrived, describing his body as “limp and floppy”.

During the beating that followed, Hughes stopped another man at the scene from intervening, stating in court she believed Webster was only going to give Ramsay “a punch and then that would be it”.

But as the situation escalated “quite quickly”, she walked away and rolled a cigarette.

Another Crown witness previously testified to hearing a female yell “kill him”, as the attack took place.

Hughes denied hearing those words and said she certainly didn’t say them.

“I didn’t say nothing.”

As the details of the attack on Ramsay were put to Hughes, she maintained she had no idea the violence would, or had, become as serious as it did.

She claimed he was conscious the entire time.

After Ramsay was thrown in the pit and Hughes and Candy were heading home, she asked her partner if they should check on the victim.

“Nah he’ll be ok, he can get himself home,” she claimed Candy told her.

At the outset of the trial, Hughes pleaded guilty to kidnapping Ramsay and the burglary of his home but maintained her pleas of not guilty to murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH).

The Crown alleges that while she did not physically harm him, she was “very much” involved in Candy’s violence towards him, making her a party to the GBH and murder.

She has been accused of encouraging the attack, smiling as it played out, and stopping others from intervening.

Ramsay suffered more than 30 blunt-force trauma injuries to his head, neck, chest, and limbs, as well as lacerations to his scalp, multiple fractures and brain bleeds.

Hughes will continue to give evidence on Wednesday before she undergoes cross-examination by the Crown.

Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a news director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff where she covered crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.