Their great migration was recorded in The GC, often thought of as the worst reality TV series ever made: tacky, mindless, strangely depressing. It followed the adventures of young Maori on the Gold Coast. But there was something sincere about it, something revealing. Its publicity drivel might have got it right when it treated murder as just one of those things that happen in between singing and a break-up: ‘Jade Louise’s debut single “Vibrations” shot to. No 1 on iTunesNZ. On a high, Jade Louise was quickly brought back down after the death of her son’s father and then having to deal with the tumultuous end to her relationship with fellow cast member Tame . . .’
Thus the parable and the perils. The death referred to was the murder of showband entertainer and hospital orderly Tony Williams, who grew up in Matapihi in the Bay of Plenty, went to Mt Maunganui College, and took off for Surfers Paradise in about 1996. His battered body was found in his Mermaid Waters unit on Christmas Eve 2011. He was 37 years old. He was very handsome, a tall, strapping guy, described as shy, charming, humble, into surfing and womanising.
Question to one of his friends, in court: ‘He was a bit of a ladies’ man, wasn’t he?’
‘Yep.’
‘He wasn’t inhibited by loyalty to any of his male friends, was he?’
‘Other than sleeping with his friends’ girlfriends, he’s not too bad.’
He was exporting a tenet of New Zealand life to his new life on the Gold Coast: the extended family. He had a son to GC star Jade Louise, and a daughter to another woman, Shardai Kerr. His friends deny it, but he was also apparently the father of a son by a woman called Sarah Davies — it’s what she told her boyfriend, ex-soldier Matt Cox. Cox heard quite a lot about Williams, but never met him until the day he paid a visit and cracked open Williams’ skull with a hammer.
‘We looked at the jealousy angle straightaway,’ said Brisbane Detective Sergeant Steve McBryde, ‘because of the brutality of what happened.’ McBryde was the officer in charge of the investigation. I spoke with him at the Queensland Supreme Court. I had got there early on my first morning and found him in an office on the fifth floor. We talked about the murder inquiry, about Cox, about the moral of the story — about whether the story had a moral. ‘It’s just a sad, tragic tale,’ he said. ‘It’s wrecked families. Tony’s family, Cox’s family. And Sarah’s, too. One day her son will have to be told that his biological father was killed by his mother’s boyfriend.’
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The security guard at the courthouse said, ‘I thought that’s what they must be. Maoris. Yeah, they’re here every day, mate. They take those seats over there. Usually about 20 of them. Every day! They bring their own esky.’
He meant Tony Williams’ whanau, who came over for the trial. You looked at them and saw the mellow blue water and pale green hills of Matapihi, that small settlement on the Tauranga harbour. Sometimes they sat together in the courtroom, and sometimes they waited outside in the shade. They were there for justice, to see Cox put away for as long as possible; their grief and rage came off them in waves, and rebuffed all approaches. ‘We will release a statement after the verdict in due course,’ said a relative, who looked away when he spoke.
The jury found Cox guilty. The family statement read: ‘Today we are grateful that Matthew Cox has been held responsible for murdering to death in a cruel and cowardly manner. We are grateful that the truth has been put forward and that Tony’s name has been cleared back to the friendly brother, son and mostly loving father that he was.’ It also expressed sympathy for Cox’s parents, but added, ‘However we cannot forgive. You are still able to visit your son every Xmas whether it be in jail, you still can!’
Cox, 27, looked afraid when I saw him in court. He had large dark eyes set in a pleasant, rather dim face. ‘He’s very articulate,’ said McBryde. ‘From a nice family. Normal people. No problems.’ He’d been in the army until he busted his knee. He started a relationship with Sarah Davies in late September 2011. Williams was dead less than three months later.
It takes time for an obsession to feed on the brain, to take over. But Cox was quick to form a bond with her son (‘They were really close,’ said Davies), and fast, too, to spring into deranged action. When he confronted Davies with a bloodied shirt he had found shoved inside a plastic bag in the cupboard, she claimed she’d worn it on the night Williams had raped her — and got her pregnant. She said she kept it as a kind of talisman, or reminder, of a terrible time in her life. She’d never reported the rape to police. In fact, she remained on friendly terms with Williams on Facebook. Was the rape accusation a lie, an invention? As provocation, it worked wonders. She said in court, ‘Matt was devastated and disgusted.’
They lived in Port Macquarie, in New South Wales. It took six hours to drive to Mermaid Waters, on the Gold Coast, where Williams lived. Cox got Williams’ address by calling from a phone box and saying he worked for Australia Post. Then he called army buddy Joshua Middleton, and asked him to help case Williams’ apartment building. As Middleton put it, ‘Do a recce. Get a feel for the area.’
Cox mused to Middleton, ‘Should I bash him? Put him in a wheelchair?’
Middleton: ‘Do you
