Taranaki farm worker murder: Jodie Hughes jailed for role in Jacob Ramsay death

Jodie Shannon Hughes was found guilty of manslaughter in relation to the death of Taranaki farm worker Jacob Ramsay. Photo / Tara Shaskey

A mother-of-two sat in a courtroom dock with tears streaming down her face as she was jailed for her involvement in the “callous” murder of Taranaki farm worker Jacob Ramsay.

Simultaneously, another mother at the sentencing bared her own heartbreak as she questioned how Jodie Hughes could have any involvement in taking a father away from his children.

“As a mother of three, never in my life would I think to do anything along the lines of what has happened,” Ramsay’s widow, Sarah Ramsay, said in her emotional victim impact statement to Hughes, who was moved to tears throughout the hearing.

“My sole reason for living is to make sure my children are happy and healthy and loved and to be there for them.

“The fact that there is a mother involved in taking away the father to my children makes me sick.”

At a trial in August, Hughes was acquitted of Ramsay’s murder but found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and manslaughter.

She was charged alongside William Candy, her partner, and Ethan Webster who have admitted killing the young father and were sentenced to life imprisonment in March.

Today, Hughes returned to the High Court at New Plymouth before Justice Matthew Palmer for sentencing, bringing to an end the prosecution of the three.

Hughes’ bowed her head as Sarah spoke of the effect her husband’s death has had on her and their children.

She talked about their three boys missing out on sharing their milestones and life events with their father, and that she and Ramsay were meant to grow old together but instead had only 18 months of marriage before he died.

Jacob Ramsay was killed by his colleagues in July last year. Photo / Supplied

When her husband was killed, Sarah said “it felt like her heart was smashed into a million pieces”. Now, that pain has evolved into anger.

Ramsay, 33, was killed over money he owed his colleagues, Candy and Webster. He had also been accused of stealing petrol and tools from the Ōaonui, South Taranaki, dairy farm at which they all worked and lived in separate farmhouses.

On July 29 last year, Candy gave him a beating at the Ōakura cemetery before forcing him into Hughes’ vehicle and taking him back to the Upper Kina Rd farm.

When they arrived on the tanker track, Candy continued the attack and Webster also delivered a number of blows and stomps to Ramsay’s head.

Candy then chained Ramsay to the back of a car by his ankle and he and Webster dragged him for almost 1km along a gravel track.

His body was dumped into a rubbish pit at the farm and he was found dead two days later by his employer.

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.

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

The burglary related to Hughes breaking into Ramsay’s home and stealing two of his TVs, and the kidnapping was when she detained him in her vehicle and drove him back to the farm with Candy.

The Crown had alleged 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 was angry Ramsay had not repaid her and Candy the $250 he owed them for methamphetamine so she encouraged the violence and stopped others who tried to intervene.

Ethan Webster, left, and William Candy were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Jacob Ramsay. Photo / Tara Shaskey

At her sentencing, Crown prosecutor Rebekah Hicklin maintained Hughes played a primary role in the offending.

She had burgled Ramsay’s home, kidnaped him and “instigated, encouraged and assisted” her co-offenders to inflict GBH on Ramsay, which caused his death, Hicklin submitted.

“Throughout the offending she showed a callous indifference to the suffering of the deceased, who was a father, a son and a partner.”

Hicklin sought a start point of at least 13 years’ imprisonment on all charges, while defence lawyer Tiffany Cooper, KC, contrastingly argued for six years and six months.

She accepted a “great tragedy” had occurred but stressed the importance of considering Hughes’ actual involvement in the offending, and the role her troubled relationship with Candy had to play.

Cooper said Hughes was not a part of the farm workers’ plan to assault Ramsay and she had no idea the beating meted out would progress to the deadly level that it did.

Among the mitigating factors raised by the defence, Cooper referenced a psychological report she described as “sobering reading”.

She said it showed a causative link between Hughes’ background of “extensive trauma and abuse” and her complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and her offending.

“Her life, Ms Hughes’ life, has also been nothing short of a tragedy.”

Justice Palmer said while Hughes had carried out the burglary by herself, he did not accept she was the primary instigator or played a dominant role in the rest of the offending.

While she encouraged the assault and had held back another farm worker who tried to intervene, making her a party to his death, he said there was no proof she knew the extent of what was intended by Candy and Webster.

“The evidence suggests that the ferocity of the attack at the farm came as a surprise to her and to everyone other than Mr Candy and Mr Webster themselves.

“It seems inexplicable, senseless, and liking enhanced by drugs.”

Justice Palmer accepted the link between Hughes’ background and her offending, stating she deserved better than the “harrowing” upbringing she endured.

He also accepted she was remorseful.

A letter written by Hughes said every night she laid awake “going over and over everything she did wrong”, regretting every choice she made on the day of Ramsay’s death.

“You know saying sorry is not going to ever make anything better, but you are sorry,” Justice Palmer said.

He took a start point of eight years’ imprisonment on all charges and then gave discounts for Hughes’ guilty pleas on the burglary and kidnapping charges, her background, remorse and potential for rehabilitation, and the interests of her children.

Hughes was then jailed for five years and six months.

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.