This podcast contains information and details relating to suicide. We urge anyone struggling with their emotions to contact Lifeline on thirteen eleven fourteen thirteen eleven fourteen or visit them at lifeline dot org dot au. A twenty four year old devoted mother of two fleeing a violent relationship as a bags packed car running her daughters strapped into the backseat.
Mom told me that she needed to go back inside to grab something.
Panic. I Amy is dead, Sir Aim his dead? Eight confusion than about five minutes, say sit n to suicide one hundred percent. This is emersing. What do you think is really the honest truth about Amy?
The Truth About Amy?
Episode six.
I'm Liam Bartlett.
And I'm Alison Sandy. It's another sunny day in Perth and we're off to track down David Simmons and his mates. We're taking two cars this time, Liam and the crew in one, and I'm in the other with security guard Mark. These guys have a history of violence and none of us are looking for a fight. They all still live in the same area a bit, so I have about
an hour with Mark to shoot the breeze. We discuss alcohol and drug fueled violence, and mark indicates while the race is about the same, it's the stimulants such as methamphetamine which seemed to make the difference as to how violent an incident can become.
Definitely yeah, and people are powered up and they almost lose the point of reason. It's very hard to talk to someone when they're in that state because a level of rationality is gone.
In some space. Have you been out this way before?
Not necessarily, munder John, But I have my sister living in Byford as well, so really we'll see if we bump into her at the shops maybe.
So what was the brief mark that you got with this one?
It seems like it's a little bit up in the air. But Liam did say there were a couple of guys that he was trying to get hold of and have a word with and see what they were thinking in regards to I think there was something along the lines of one of their friends might have been involved in a case quite some time ago, maybe ten years or so, and it seemed pretty serious, and they're probably going to
stick up for each other. It's probably pretty emotional. They're probably going to be a little bit defensive or wary.
You probably come across guys that are in and out of court right for various physical altercations or things like that, So you kind of would know the type of person or people that we're dealing with on that basis.
Yes, and no.
I think there's a lot of people that fit that category for a multitude of reasons. Homelessness or drug use. There's a lot of mental illness, and some people are also just prone to violence and they have bought impulse control and if they have a bad day, they'll let someone else feel the brunt of that. So there's a lot of people that I'll deal with that have those types of issues, but the actual cause or reason might seem to vary quite significantly.
Yeah.
Absolutely, Well a lot of them. It's tied up, right, because drug use can lead to mental health, or mental health leads to drug use. I mean it's all yeah connected, right, It's.
Probably hard to separate one from the other. Yeah, it's probably all feeding the same issue.
Yeah, what's your analysis of those sorts of people when it comes to just the physical violence aspect.
I think most of the time it is my job I do train a few aspects of this. We do have our training for the company as well, So there's a few things that will give me an advantage in those types of scenarios. But having said that, you don't know who you're dealing with. I don't know what these guys are capable of. I don't know if they're going to be armed, and you still need to have a level of respect for the situation. Things can go wrong and you need to be aware of that going in.
If you are all gung ho and think I'm the man or I'm untouchable or something like that, then maybe that's not the best thing. There's always other factors as well that play into it. If you're trying to manage a situation and really de escalated or something like that, or you might make the wrong move, or you know, you might not have enough situational awareness. It all opens it up to change, and yeah, you need to stay switched on regardless of who it is.
Do you come across many domestic violence situations?
Oh, very very sensitive subject, isn't it? In terms of my relation to domestic violence with work in terms of crowd control or those types of aspects of venues, fairly minimal. But that's my workplaces outside of that there's some very concerning what would go on behind closed doors type scenarios, and a lot of it's probably not reported.
It's always been a thing, right, but now it's out in the open, like we've always known about it at all.
But I think that's good.
Yeah, it is good.
We need people to understand how serious of an issue it is. It's it's very hard to broad brushstroke an issue as complex as that, but geez, we need to come up with some solutions and fast. I think it's scary how common this type of behavior is. And I think what's more scary is any number that we hear that's reported, that's reported, Imagine what we don't hear about.
Imagine all the cases where someone's too scared, they don't want to say anything, they've been intimidated to the point that they don't want to say anything about it, and they're just suffering away and they're not in a position where they feel like they can do anything about it or they can speak about it. I think that that's probably some really scary stats. If there was a way to actually unreported and combined the two, I think that would be a big wake up to a lot of people.
Well, only ten percent are reported. That's the official staff, only ten percent of report.
There we go.
I didn't know that, but I can really believe that. Yeah, and that's scary. If only ten percent, that's scary. Out of ten people that are in that situation, only one of them feels like they can actually say something. There's nine that won't. That that's really scary.
While Allison and Market chatting, I'm going over my notes about Joshua James Brydon. He's the youngest of the group, born in nineteen ninety one, a year after Amy. And Gareth Brydon was there the day Amy died, but says he left shortly before the shooting and then return shortly after.
Despite this and having seen David Simmons and spoken to Gareth Price several times after Amy's death, he says neither of them told him, and he didn't find out about Amy's death until the following afternoon when talking to someone else. This is what he said in a statement to police on the twenty eighth of June twenty fourteen.
I am twenty three years old and reside in an address in Byford. On Friday, the twenty seventh of June, I was asked to attend the Munda John Police station to provide a statement to the WA Police. I have been advised that I do not have to accompany police, that I am not under arrest, and that if I do a company police, that I am free to leave at any time unless I am placed under arrest. I am friends with Simmo and Amy. Simmo is a David Simmons who I have known through the family since I
was about fifteen years old. Hami is his partner. They aren't married. I have known her for about two years and met her through Simo. Simmo was someone that I've only just started hanging out with the last two years, but I've known him since I was about fifteen. I consider him to be a good mate. I go to his house and he comes to mind, not very often, but I also see him at Gareth. When I see him, we go out bush, you know, camping, pig hutt and
wood chopping, barbecues and hanging out at the house. I usually go with a group of people who go On Wednesday, twenty fifth of June twenty fourteen, the girls went out together. Amy sometimes goes out shooting, but only with Simo. We've only been out with Simo and her once and she only ever uses a twenty two because she has a bad neck from a car accident. She'd never used the shotguns she refuses to use it.
So stopping here because think about it, Amy refuses to use the shotgun because of her neck injury. Now remember this statement was taken just two days after Amy's death. It's understandable given the four to ten would be much heavier and the recoil much stronger, but again something that was brushed over during the inquest.
My girls, I mean Amy and Rachel Price. Rachel is Gareth's wife. They went to the movies I think it was at Armadale and he saw twenty two Jump Street. I was at Simo's house in Southwest Highway a certain time when the girls left. Garetha was also there. We were watching movies until the kids went to bed at eight thirty because we stuffed at the TV. The movie had finished and we didn't know how to use the TV, so I couldn't get it back to Foxdell. That's what
I left. I had agreed to go back to Simo's house in the morning to chop some wood. Simmo and his dad have a logging business, and Simo still sells some wood from his house. I didn't go back to the house first thing in the morning because I slept in. At about nine thirty am, I got a Facebook message from Amy asking well we made what time me coming up? Simoto's never phone on him, so I got to communicate through Facebook. I said I was coming up. I was in the car and on the way. Got there about
ten am. When I got to the house, I could see Simo's car suber rumby, Amy's car, which was a v Wire Commodol, and Rachel's car, which was a white Toyota camera. Gareth and Rachel had stayed over the night, but Garris Carr was already gone because he had gone to work. I walked up to the house, knocked on the door, and walked in. Simo and Amy were both in good moods, you know, happy as Larry. Simo asked if I was ready to go. Simo walked out to
his car. Amy walked out just behind him with a box of rubbish frost, putting the bins down the end of the driveway. We then left. I drove my car and Simo drove his car behind me. Amy and Rachel stayed back at the house. We dropped the rubbish in the bins and then drove to the cow Text roadhouse in Serpentine. Simo put some diesel in my car, bought fuel for the chainsaw, and put fuel in his car.
Brighton says Simmons was in a good mood. While they found some logs and cut wood. They didn't get back to simmons place Simo's place, as Brydon puts it, until about twelve thirty.
The girls had gone out. I don't know where they went. Simmo got changed because it had been raining whilst we were chopping wood, and I remember he had a b loo sing one on and blue jeans. He got changed into a pair of shorts, a black jumper and a T shirt. I don't really remember his clothing. We stayed and had some chips and left in Simo's car to go to the bottle at Serpentine. Get a cart and a piss, and you know by piss, I'm in beer. Simo went desided to pay for it. It was about
fifteen minutes down the road. We put the piss in the back of the ute and drove to Gareth's house in Jaredale looked over his phone. Gareth had left his phone on the bin that night. We couldn't find him up there.
After that, he and Simmons went out Bush again. At about two fifteen, he received a Facebook message from Amy.
She asked me to get simm to goober a call. Simo tried to call on my phone but it kept open in and out of some reception, so it never rotecked it.
Before going back to Simmos, they picked up Gareth. It was about three thirty. Rachel had left and Amy had gone to pick up her eldest daughter from school.
I gave sim On my phone to call Amy because he couldn't get her earlier. Lost he called, I went outside. I couldn't hear the call. About fifteen twenty minutes later, Amy arrived at the house with two kids. The kids were excited, you know, as usual. I don't know why. They went to the bedroom. After about ten minutes I heard Amy start yelling. I couldn't hear Simmo. She came running out and said, did David try to call me? And I said, yeah, here's my call logue and I
showed her my phone. She said, don't worry about it and turned back and went back into the bedroom. She got a bit angry, started throwing stuff, and by angry Ammy and she was out of order. It was out of normal for me. Kath was down the hallway and they were arguing, and you know, by arguing, I mean Simmo was listening to Amy and he was saying a few things to try and calm Amy down. I heard Simmo say, have I ever hurt you? Have I ever hit you? I've never hurt you, and I never will,
you know. Amy said, now, you've never hurt me, and you've never hit me. Kareth grabbed a mirror from the hallway next to the bedroom and walked back to the dining table and put the mirror down near me. I think he was just trying to do it to stop it from getting broken. Simo came out and started talking to us. We're still at the dining room table. Amy came out and said I've had enough. I'm leaving. Simo said, if you want to leave, leave, I'm not arguing with you.
Amy said, I'm taking all the money and I'm going to get a new house. Simo said, you can take the money, take both of the accounts. All I wanted the roof over the kids heads. Simo was upset but holding it together for the kids. You know, five said, I mean he was a bit angry, but he was holding in his temper. Andy then walked out the front door. You know, I thought she was going to a car. Simo stayed and was trying to talk to us, So the girls went outside, playing in the shed out the back.
Whilst all this was.
Happening, he says, Amy's oldest daughter started crying, so they ran outside.
Simmo said, I hope she doesn't hurt the kids.
In anger, they noticed the lizard tank is smashed, and Gareth and Brydon proceed to clean up.
Gareth and I stayed with the girls in the shed and looked after them, making sure they didn't run off or do anything stupid. Simo came and told the girls O had to go to the NaNs. At that point, Simo was upset, but was, you know, putting on a brave face with the kids. I would say that he was frustrated. I don't think he was angry, and I don't think he was sad, but I'd say it was pretty calm though. Put the kids in Amy's car.
Brydon says, He left at four forty seven pm. He knows this because he just got a text message from his old school friend Kay. He says he didn't respond to this message, though, and went straight home and fed his dogs. At about five point thirty pm, he drives back to Simo's place.
When I got there, Gareth is sitting on the fence. I stopped to talk with him. He said, you don't want to go up there, just leave and come back later. He wouldn't tell me what happened. I thought Simmo had started arguing back with Amy. Gareth is a bit strange, like you know someone was wrong. I knew there was something wrong, but I didn't do anything about it.
So Brydon leaves again and apparently goes straight to his mate Kaid's place, whose text he didn't respond to. Earlier.
As I was driving to Caids, I got a message from It was about five point fifty pm. The message said come to mind. I didn't respond to that message. I didn't receive any other calls that night or messages, and I didn't make or send any.
He and Caid apparently then go pig shooting until after midnight. After that, he went home to bed Brighton says he slept in the next morning to about eight am, and after doing a few chores around the house, headed to the bakery and then to get new tires for his car. It's late morning when Gareth calls him.
Gareth said to me, we need to talk.
The call is from Brydon's sister's phone, and they hang up quickly so he can get back home where Gareth and Simo are waiting.
Simma looked a mess. I mean, he wasn't talking. He looked like he was going to cry. He wasn't happy. Kara said, we're about to go up bush. Do you want to come? I said, nah, I got to get these tires put on. I didn't talk to them much because my sister was there. I figured if they wanted to talk, they would have said it with her.
There, so if we still believe Joshua's story. Simmons and Gareth then leave, having not discussed Amy's death. Brydon says it wasn't until he drove to another mate's place and talked to Rachel's brother Ray that he learned about what happened.
He said that Amy had shot herself and I said, yeah, I knew it. In myself kind of had a feel, and I felt it because of the way that Simo was when he was at my house. It was like his heart had been torturous. Chest Simon and Gareth rocked up. We were all at the back, and Gareth started talking to us. Both looked a little better, like they had refreshed themselves. Sim and I went out in the front. He asked me if I had heard what had happened to Amy said it was okay, and that he was
better than he was. There was not much you could do about it now, I mean, it was too late. We talked for a little bit and then walked out the back. I tried talking to him some more, but Simo wouldn't talk back. Gareth and Simo left to go back to Gareth's house. I left as well. When I got to Gareth's house, Simo started to let everything out emotionally. He started crying and hating on himself or what Gareth had to see. Gareth was saying, that's what made the four here for you, no matter what.
How prophetic those words would prove. Brydon doesn't say much more, but lists the guns owned by Simmons, which included the twelve gage shotgun, a three zero eight bolt action rifle, a Browning twenty two lever action fifteen shot rifle, and the four to ten shotgun. And there was also Amy's pink twenty two rifle. He then says, Simmons and Amy's relationship was very cheery and happy, a normal relationship, no different to any other of his mate's relationships.
At the time of his statement to police in twenty fourteen, Brydon also mentioned that his dad's twin sister was in a relationship with Simmons. Uncle. This is Brydon at the inquest.
Could you tell the court your full name, please, Joshua James Brydon. And my understanding is that you gave a statement to the WA Police in relation to the investigation into Amy's death. Do you remember that. Yes, It's dated twenty eight June twenty fourteen, so two days after Amy died. Do you recall giving that statement?
Yes, I do.
Is there anything that you would like to add or change to that statement in evidence today?
No?
And do you call David Simmons Dave David Simo what Simo?
Brydon outlines the history of his friendship with Simmo and what they did together. And then he's asked about Amy.
Did Amy go hunting?
Not with me?
No?
Did you ever see Amy use a gun?
No?
Do you remember there being any issues of jealousy between you speaking to Amy from David's perspective?
No?
Would it surprise you to hear that there were messages sent between Amy and David where David expressed a bit of displeasure about the suggestion that Amy might go out shooting with you a min before she died.
Yes, it would surprise me.
Yes, that's news to you. Yes, Okay. Do you remember offering to take Amy out shooting or talking to her about that about a month before she died?
Not really, I don't, but yes, all right, I'm.
Going to ask you to cast your mind back six and a half years. Do you have an independent memory of the days before Amy died?
No? I don't remember too much. But I mean I know the day that she died, me and Simo went and chopped firewood during the day.
So the chopping of firewood, was that your job or were you just helping out?
I was just helping out.
Was that something you did regularly?
Yeah?
When you would go out chopping wood, would you and David drink while doing that, Sorry, Simo.
No, sometimes he might have stopped at the pub for lunch or something like that.
You didn't. No, we know from your statement that the morning that you agreed to go and help Simo chop some wood, you had some Facebook messenger conversations with Amy. Do you remember that.
Yes, that's how David was getting in touch with me because his phone. He didn't have a phone at the time.
So do you know why he didn't have a phone.
His phone got damage from water damage.
Do you know where that occurred or when he left.
It on Gareth rubbish Benn at Garri's house. I think a week a couple of weeks before and it got wet.
Counsel assisting then discusses Facebook messages Amy sent to Brydon the day she died. The first one was at eight am asking when he was coming over. Brighton confirms Amy was talking about him going out with Simmo to chop wood as they discussed it the day before. Then Amy sends another message asking him how is my chocolate slice?
Do you remember what that was about?
Not really, I'm guessing we on chocolate slice days before. Maybe I don't know.
You would have been at her house yeah, the day before, is that right?
Yes?
All right? And you complimented her on her food, you said it was good.
Yes, yeah.
Brighton confirms arriving at their house shortly after and driving his utes separately from Simmer, who drove his own bhicle out to chopwood, and bringing several loads back to the house before finishing up. When prompted, he says, they went back and forth about three times.
Do you know how long those trips would have taken back and forth?
Probably between loads, I don't know, between a couple hours.
My understanding is at about lunchtime you went back to Simo's house and you had done your wood shopping for the day. Does that is that your memory or is the timing off.
We had obviously gone back to Simo's house a couple of times, but like the we got back there in the afternoon pretty much. We picked up Gareth on the way through, so it was at the end of the day when we got there.
I think in your statement you mentioned stopping to buy some beer and go to Gareth's house. Does that sound right?
We didn't stop and buy beer because we were nowhere near a bot shop.
All right? Do you agree that you were at David's house at about lunchtime. That you would have been there at some point around twelve.
Yeah, yes, we would have been there.
Yes, just based on the messages on Amy's phone. We know that your phone, your Facebook messages. Sent a message to Amy's phone at eleven forty six am, saying Simo wants to know where you are. Do you remember anything about that message?
No?
And we know that. Amy responded saying on my way home, yes, you don't remember anything about that?
No?
Not really? I mean yes, yeah, I was communicating to Amy four Simmo.
So Simo was saying this, ask this is that right?
Yes?
Amy then messaged Bridon's phone at twelve forty seven, asking where the fuck are you? But it wasn't until two forty two when Bridon replies out Bush. Three minutes later, Amy messages again, saying, get Simo to call me.
Do you remember that?
Yes?
Do you know why Amy was looking for you?
No?
Did you call her back when you got the message?
Yes? We tried to call her back, but I had a limited.
Reception, couldn't get through.
We couldn't get through, but we were heading home at that point.
What happened to you when you got home? To Simo's house.
We were sitting in the kitchen. Amy was yelling at Simmo.
So Amy got home? Or was she home already?
She was home already with the kids home. Yes.
Where were they?
I think they were in their rooms. Gareth and me were sitting in the kitchen.
Were you having a drink or having a What were you doing?
We were just sitting there, just sitting chatting.
Yes.
And where was David?
He was talking to Amy?
What do you remember happening when you walked in?
Amy yelling? Similar? Was trying to calm her down?
What was she yelling?
I could remember what she was yelling.
Could you hear what they were saying?
I could? I just couldn't remember what they were saying.
You can't remember?
No?
Do you know why she was angry?
Maybe because she thought we were ignoring her for the day, but it wasn't the case. We just didn't have reception.
Was David yelling back?
No, just trying to yes, respond calmly?
Were they trying to get away from each other? What was happening?
No, not really. Simia was just trying to explain himself and calm her down.
Really did Amy calm down?
Not? Really? You know? The matter resolved itself a little bit. Simmia was outside with us, you know, talking to the kids. I think Amy's plan was just to go to a mom's house for the night.
Did you see the argument get physical at any point while you were there?
Yes, Amy tried to pick something up and hit them with it, but she didn't hit him physically with it.
What did you see her pick up?
I can't remember. It was something next to the kitchen.
We received a statement from Gareth that says he saw Amy hitting Simo with a mirror. Does that refresh your memory in any way?
Yes? That sounds about right all right.
Did the mirror break?
Nah?
No, I didn't do you know what happened to that mirror?
Simoy managed to get it out of her hand and threw it on the floor, and Gareth picked it up and pulled it away so it couldn't be used.
Was this in the bathroom?
No, in the hallway.
Was Simo just standing there while Amy tried to hit him with his mirror.
Or he was? Yes, he was standing there.
He obviously wasn't trying to defend himself. No, he was just standing there while she tried to hit him.
Yes, he put his arms up, but he didn't.
He managed to get his arms up and take the mirror off her.
Yes, I don't know. I can't remember if he took it off her or if it just if she let go of it.
Do you know what happened after the mirror was moved by Gareth?
I'm pretty sure we went outside, All of us went outside. Okay, the kids. Sim put the kids in the car. Yes.
Where was Amy while this was happening.
I'm pretty sure she was in a room. Okay.
Were the kids upset?
Yes, they were upset. I don't think they understood what was going on.
Do you know why Simo put them in the car.
He put them in the car and explained to them that they were going with Mommy to stay at Grandma's.
Did you hear Amy and Simmo talking about that plan? Do you know where that plan came from?
No? I didn't hear them.
We know that Amy called her mom after the fight with David and said that she had thrown a beer at him. Do you remember seeing that? No, you didn't see anyone throwing any drinks.
No, I don't remember that, but I mean it could happen. Yeah.
Gareth also says that Simo had to wrestle Amy to the ground and hold her by the arms to stop her after she was hitting him. Do you remember that.
Yes, he was trying to calm her down, and he managed to calm her down enough for us for us three to walk outside and separate the situation.
Can you describe what he did to calm her down?
He just held her down, that's it.
Can you remember where he was holding her.
He just held on to her arms.
Did he take her to the ground to calm her down?
I can't remember if he talked to the ground or not.
Amy had butted David while that was happening and split his lip. Do you remember anything about that?
I remember him having split lip.
He didn't see the head butt.
I can't remember.
Do you remember them saying to each other while they were wrestling or while this was going on?
Not really. It was more yelling, yelling from Amy's side of things.
And David didn't start yelling back her anything.
Not really.
Was Amy still just angry or did she start to get upset?
I think a bit of both.
Can you describe what she seemed like what she was doing?
Not really, I didn't see her after we went outside.
Is there a reason. Did you try and intervene with David and Amy?
We tried to stay out of it as much as we could, but yes, we were prepared to step in if, obviously, if it got too physically out of hand to split it up.
But you didn't see anything that you thought was out of hand.
No, I mean, what happened so fast and it was over. It was quick as before we could even get out of the chairs. Anyway.
Did you see a headlock at any point?
No?
I didn't see the headlock.
The reason I asked that is that Gareth says that David had Amy in a headlock to try and get her down to the ground. You didn't see that.
No, I didn't see that.
Okay, we know that the forensic pathologists that examined Amy after she died saw that she had soft tissue injuries to her wrists and other small bruises on her body. Do you think that the scuffle between her and David have resulted in those injuries based.
On what you saw, could have done yes?
Do you think he was holding her down forcefully enough that it might have left a bruise?
Yes?
Yes, all right, But just again, you weren't concerned to the degree that you would have stepped in.
Well, in my eyes, he was trying to hold it down, to calm her down for our own good. I think you know, if the bruises are there, it's because she was fighting him more than he was fighting her.
So your perspective of this altercation was that Amy was the aggressor, not David.
Amy was the one that was angry, yes, and aggressive. Yes, at that time.
She was the one using violence against David.
Yes.
Okay. Amy was a pretty small woman, wasn't she.
Yes, she was.
He went worried that David was a fair bit bigger than her.
Yes, I mean he's a lot bigger than her, and he yes, and in capabilities. If he was being violent, he would be able to hurt her. But he wasn't trying to be violent towards her in that day at all. He just wanted her to calm down and stop.
Miss Tyler then asked Brydon about whether he witnessed the lizard tank being smashed. He replies he saw Amy push a over and then head back inside. He confirms what Gareth said, which is they cleaned it up while Simmo put the kids in the car.
At any point did Simmo go back inside and talk to Amy while you and Gareth were outside?
He tried to, but the door was locked.
Which door was locked?
The front door?
Are you sure the door was locked? The reason I asked that is because you didn't mention that in the statement that you gave to police.
Yes, I'm pretty I know the door was locked at some point because he couldn't get into the house.
This is a pretty big point, in fact, a very big point. Amy had locked the front door. Now nobody else mentioned this, and they didn't seem to be any issue with a locked door when they ran into the house later after hearing the thud, Brydon goes on to say that Simmons wasn't really phased by Amy locking the door.
Was he angry about that?
No, not really. You just tried. He just wanted to talk to her.
You don't remember anything that David might have said through the locked door to try and get Amy to open it.
No, not really.
Do you know what time you left? We know from your statement that you told police you had a message from a friend at four forty seven.
Yes, that's when I was leaving. I was meant to pick up my mate from the train. Station.
Meant to pick up your mate from the train station.
Oh, I had to after he finished work. We have planned to go pick hunt in that night, so just you two.
Yeah, where did you go?
I drove to my place where I was living.
You went straight home.
Straight home. I messaged my mate to see if he still needed to be picked up. He had been picked up by his girlfriend. So I drove back to Simo's place before going to his, but Gareth was in the front driveway and told me.
To leave before we get to that. At the time, did you live alone?
No, I lived with my parents at the time.
Were your parents home when you got home?
No, they weren't all right.
Why did you drive back to Simo's house?
I just wanted to check and make sure things were okay?
Is that because you were worried?
I was just just want to check to see if Amy was okay. She had calmed down, and yes, make sure the kids were okay.
What were you concerned would have happened? What were you worried about?
I was just worried that she might have been you know, like you know, they were both my friends, Yes, and I wanted to know why she was upset or what was wrong.
Brydon says, only Gareth was at the front gate when he arrived.
Do you remember talking to him?
He just told me to leave.
Did he tell you why?
No?
Did you ask him why?
He told me just leave?
Didn't give you any more detail than that?
Didn't give me any more details.
Brighton repeats what was in his statement about going out pig hunting with his mate Kaid, and despite having seen Gareth and Simmo the next morning at home, they still didn't tell him what happened to Amy. He once again says another mate told him, but changes it from being in person to via text message.
What was your reaction when you heard that news?
I was upset?
Were you surprised?
I was? I was surprised, okay fair.
Did you ever suspect she would be at risk of committing suicide?
No? I didn't.
You didn't know anything about her being depressed or unhappy or anything of that nature.
No, I didn't know that she was depressed. She never spoke to me about that.
When you heard the news, were you concerned that David might have done something to her?
No?
Were you told that she had committed suicide? Or were you just told that she was dead?
I was told that she had committed suicide.
You didn't have a moment's doubt about how she had died. No, okay, you had known Amy and David for a couple of years. What was their relationship like? Generally?
Mostly happy whenever I was there. I mean, every relationship has their bad days and their good days, so most of the time it was never in front of people.
So did David ever confide in you about any difficulties in their relationship?
Not really, I mean never really spoke to me about them.
Did Amy ever confide in you about any problems in their relationship?
No, she didn't.
When you were all at Amy and Simmo's house, when Amy had come home and there was an argument. Had you all been drinking at all that day?
Mind, had a couple of beers that day? I gotta. I can't really.
Recall you had been with David the whole day, right?
Yeah?
Was he in your view? Was he intoxicated?
No? No, No?
Do you remember drinking that day?
No?
I don't. I don't. Really. A lot of that day is pretty blurring and scramble for me.
If you had been drinking together, would it have been beer or something harder?
It would have been beer.
Yes, okay, but you're pretty confident that you weren't intoxicated that day.
No, not to be the limit.
David wasn't either, No, all right, to your knowledge, were drugs ever an issue for Amy or David.
I've never seen timodo drugs while he was with Amy.
And you hadn't used drugs that day or any day around it.
No.
One of the main reasons for holding this in quest is, I'm sure you know, is that the family don't believe that Amy committed suicide, and the police investigations haven't been able to resolve the question of how she died one way or the other. You've had six and a half years to think about it, and you were one of the last people to see Amy alive. Do you have a view about how Amy died?
No?
I don't know.
Yes.
I mean, you can't really understand depression or what someone's going through. You can't even try to understand it. You know, the only person who knew what was going on that day would have been Amy, And I mean it was a pretty hard moment for me. I lost a friend. I lost another friend twelve months later that committed suicide. You know, right up to that point, I didn't know that he was suffering what he was suffering either.
So the Deputy State Currenter says, she has a question.
I just wanted to ask you one thing, and it might be testing your memory, but your statements there in front of you. I think if you could go to page eleven and just to paragraphs one hundred and fifteen and one hundred and sixteen, and you obviously gave this on twenty eighth of June, so very close in time. You mentioned there about a conversation you heard Simo say, have I ever hurt you? I've never hurt you and I never will. And you said then Amy said, no,
You've never hurt me, You have never hit me. Do you remember that conversation now on hearing.
Those words, Yes, I do remember that conversation.
Yes, And to the best of your recollection, had you ever seen Simo hit Amy before that day?
Oh, I've never seen him.
And you mentioned Amy on the day. Did try and hit Simo a few times?
Yes?
Had she ever tried to hit him before?
No, I've never seen that before.
So this fight between them was unusual. Would that be fair to say.
It's very unusual due to the fact that she was so happy and cheerful in the morning we left chop Wood. It was a completely different person, to tell you the truth.
So the way she was in the afternoon was very different to how she'd been during the day.
Yeah.
Counsel representing the family, Peter Ward, asks Bride and more questions about his friendship with Amy and a Facebook message where he offers to take her shooting while David Simmons is away. Amy replies, sorry, mate, but Simo would be funny about going shooting.
You responded to say, I thought he would.
Well, yeah, wouldn't you be funny if another guy was going shoot?
And didn't you tell her onor earlier that there was no problem with you talking to Amy?
Well, you know, obviously he's not going to want us go friend going out shooting with another guy.
So he was quite possessive, was he.
I don't know, mate, I'm not Simmo. I can't ask the questions on how Simo is as that person.
I'm not asking you to answer questions about what Simo himself thought. What I'm asking you about is on that fourth message down you said I thought he would. You thought that Simo would have a problem with it, didn't you. Yes, And the reason why you thought that is because you knew how possessive he was.
Now I don't know how possessive he is.
So he didn't even trust his girlfriend to go out shooting with his mates. Is that right? Do you want to answer that?
No, he doesn't.
Amy then responded that it's not like we ain't mates. But oh well, now I know I'm not allowed to have friends. That's pretty right, isn't it. She wasn't allowed to have friends outside of Simo's group.
Was she?
I don't know.
Did you ever see her with friends who weren't friends with Simmo?
No?
I didn't.
Mister Ward then quizzers Brydon about the day Amy died and how he told police they went back to Gareth's house to pick up his phone.
Why were you going to look for Gareth's phone at Gareth's house when Gareth wasn't there?
It was Simmo's phone, and Gareth had left Simo's phone on the bin that night.
Right, So when you say Gareth had left his phone on the bin, you meant Gareth had left Simo's phone on the bin. Yes, okay, so you were going back to Gareth to look for Simo's phone on the bin.
Yes, that's correct.
Why did you go and collect the phone if it wasn't working?
Obviously he wanted to simkid back out of it so we could put in a new phone.
You had already asked Amy earlier that day to go and pick that phone up for him, hadn't you?
Yes? I had.
You sent her a message at quarter past twelve to say did you go to Gareth to get Zima's phone? And she responded at half past twelve to say got his phone? And yet at quarter to three you say you went to Gareth's house to get the phone that she had already picked up.
Well is that when? Is that? What the time was?
When?
What I said? Or has or did we go to Gareth's house before that? So I don't remember all this stuff six and a half years ago. So I know we went to Garth's house and picked Gareth up, but I don't know that was on the way home.
Mister Ward mentions a few inconsistencies in the timeframe provided by Brydon, and when asked by the Deputy coroner where he's going with all this, he indicates he's underlining the unreliability of the witness's evidence.
The witness's account of his movements versus the messages that were being sent and received is inaccurate. The account he gave to police at the time he is inaccurate when it was fresh in his mind, and that what appears to have happened is that he has spent a significant amount of time out pushed with Simo or back at the house drinking with Simo, when what they should have been doing is coming back to the house for the
wood buyer to collect. The fact that they weren't there when the wood buyer was supposed to collect may provide some explanation for why Amy is upset and why the fight began.
The Deputy coroner agrees there are discrepancies, but suggests this line of questioning is unhelpful under the circumstances.
Yes, and I've worked that out from the evidence. I mean, she's clearly annoyed that the buyer is coming and no one is responding. And I mean whether Josh Briden is part of the problem in the fact that David Simmons hasn't come back, that's kind of neither here nor there. But I can understand from the evidence that Amy's becoming frustrated because she's not being contacted, and that seems to have been accepted by Josh Bridon in the sense of saying it appears she was angry because it seemed like
they were ignoring David was ignoring her. There's nothing to suggest Josh Bridon is in some conspiracy where he's actually been at the house during all these events. And I just can't see how questioning this witness unless he suddenly completely changes his story and announces that he was there when he wasn't, and you can put that to him, but I can't see any evidence to suggest that at this stage, and I'm unlikely to be hearing evidence of that,
however long I give you. I would have thought, I accept that his evidence is not reliable in some parts, and I mean, he kind of almost concedes that throughout, but by all means put a little bit more to him. But I just think we have time pressures here in the sense of getting through the witnesses today. And also I don't want people to come to an inquest and feel like they're being cross examined in a criminal trial
when they're not. That's not the purpose of it. You're not being aggressive or anything I'm not suggesting your manner is inappropriate, but I just think that kind of pinning down for all the inconsistencies in prior statements is probably not perfectly suited to this jurisdiction.
I think the corony is missing the point here. Why would they need to go back to Gareth's house for Simo's phone when they already had it. Could the reason for the trip have been obtaining illegal drugs? Instead? Mister Ward is allowed to proceed with the witness and Brydon is brought back in.
So, mister Brydon, we were talking about where you had been when you received those messages. So you eventually went to Garrett's house. You then went from Garret's house to Simo's house, and that was after Gareth had knocked off work about three o'clock, so you would have got back to Simo's about three thirty somewhere.
There, thirty four o'clock. Yes, So how.
Long after you got there did the fight between Amy and Simo start? Did the fight between Amy and Simo start before or after the lizard tank got broken?
Before?
How long did the fight go for?
I don't know. I wasn't wearing a stopwatch, are.
We talking about a minute? Or are we talking about fifteen minutes?
Fifteen minutes?
Brighton then confirms the rest of the events were just as he'd mentioned in his statement, but mister Ward requires one more clarification regarding his decision to leave and come back shortly after.
If you were coming back to check if Amy was okay, why didn't you just send her a Facebook message?
I didn't just go there to check Amy was okay. I went there to check if everyone was okay.
So isn't it the case that one of the reasons why you went back there rather than just send a message was because you were actually worried about whether anyone might be okay?
I said I was going back, So I went back. That's what I said before I left. I said I'm coming back, all right? So I went back.
And when you got back there and there's just Garreth sitting on the gate and he says, go away, doesn't it make you suspicious that things aren't all right?
Not? Really.
The reason why that didn't make you suspicious is because you knew that there was a problem, didn't you know? You knew that the way that David had been acting up earlier that day, that there might be a problem.
David wasn't acting up in any way that day. It was just a normal day.
Eventually we make it to Byford, where Joshua Brydon lives with his parents. Both cars pull up and Mark jumps out to join Liam and the crew.
Yeah good Joshua, Joshua, yeah exactly, mister Brydon. Yeah, Hi, how are you too bad? Good? Thank you? Liam Bartlett from seven News spotler, is your son Joshua here? Please?
He is?
Yeah? Why he is? Or he would we be able to have a word to it? Well? Four? Well, we want to ask him some questions questions online. We're looking into the death of Amy Wensley. Ask him he's film and a yes, we are, Well you can on that Phil film right now? So can all right, Well, we'd just like to ask josh are a few questions, thank you very much. No, he doesn't want anything to do with it. He doesn't want anything to do with it. No, he doesn't want that. He's not well. Unfortunately, he has
got something to do with it. Well has he got to do with it? Well, he was there on the day. Yea, so he's inexorably linked to it. You can't know he wasn't. He wasn't. He was there on the day, but he wasn't there when it happened. He can't be. He can't be unlinked to it. He was there. It's the trial has been done and finished and all ways there was no there was never a trial. There's a coronial inquest. Are you filming still? Yes, we are. You can get off my property. Per starts. He is, he is? He
all brave enough to come and talk to us. He doesn't want to talk about it. It's a sad thing that happened. He doesn't want to talk about it, and so well, how much does he know about it? Don't know. I'm not talking about I've with my life. I've told the reporters one hundred times before. Leave me alone. I can't see you film. Can't you can see me or not?
Don't you You're invading our privacy on our property.
All right, I don't have to talk to you. You don't have to know. You don't have to. But for the sake of Amy's family, I would have thought it'd be big enough to do that. Amy's family need to let it go. Well, they can't. They can't let it go. Well, the truth was found that the cronial inquest. It wasn't there wasn't a truth and you know that, Joshua. It was an open finding. I've already told what I know that day in court.
I don't need to keep going through this ship, keep beating for going through that day.
Well, that's that's exactly what the family says, guys, that's exactly what the family says, Joshua. If this case the TV Amy's family, I don't know Amy at all. I don't even know. Well, don't you even feel anything for that? It's kind of happen to do with me. I've had Look, I've been through life of my stuff. It's got nothing to do with me. I don't know her. That's a
pretty heartless attitude. Why isn't that? Why is that because I don't know if it was your daughter, mate, you wouldn't feel too good about it either, would you.
Of course I wouldn't feel too good about it.
Well, you'd want answers if it was your family, if it was your son, Joshua.
Well, he wasn't there, so what's it good to you?
He was there that day. He's friends with David Simmons and Gareth Price. You know very well what the situation. He wasn't there that day when that happened. He was there that day, but he wasn't there. He was not there. You don't think he knows what happened. No, guys, all right, thank you.
Despite admitting there were credibility issues with Brydon's evidence, the Deputy current Is still seemed to give it a lot of weight compared to the testimony provided by Amy's closest friends,
Erin and Tash. The incidents they described where Simmons overpowered Amy and how Simmons joked he would dispose of Amy's body, and then Nancy revealing what Amy said on the phone, how Simmons threw her around the room, and Nancy's partner making a statement about how Amy told him four days before she died that Simmons had held a knife to a throat. We'll go into more detail on that in
a future episode. None of that seemed to make any difference because Gareth and Josh said they had a great relationship, but Amy hadn't reported the domestic violence, and police couldn't find the photo of Amy covered in bruises that she sent to Erin.
There were differing accounts of the nature of Amy and David's relationship. Those witnesses associated with Amy described a relationship characterized by coercive control and verbal abuse by David towards Amy, and suspicions of physical violence.
They were more than just suspicions. They witnessed it. However, for some reason authorities did not consider those actions as violent.
Those people more closely associated with David Simmons suggested the relationship was volatile, with poor behavior on the part of both parties at times. Both sides agreed the problems were exacerbated by David's drinking and drug use. They had broken up a few times, either briefly or for a longer period,
but always seemed to get back together. However, in more recent times, Amy's family and friends felt she had seemed to indicate she was starting to consider a permanent end to their relationship.
Again, it was not a seeming indication, but a fact. Here her Honor refers to Erin's evidence.
Erin ascribed David's behavior as very controlling and jealous of Amy, and he would bully her and belittle her in front of other people. Erin recalled she witnessed coless times when David was verbally abusive towards Amy. David also apparently made inappropriate jokes in front of Erin about the means by which he would dispose of Amy's body if he killed her, which he appeared to find funny and Amy would brush off, although David would regularly make Amy delete her Facebook account
due to his jealousy. Facebook messages between Amy and Erin were provided to the police spanning a number of years. As early as the eighth of July twenty twelve, Amy told Erin that she had an argument with David about his drug use and started punching him, and in response, he had man handled her, choked her, and chucked her around the room. She said at the time her adrenaline
was pumping, so she didn't feel anything. Erin also recalled that prior to moving to Broom in late twenty twelve, Amy sent her photographs of bruises to her neck, which she told Erin had been caused by David.
The deputy coroner then refers to Natasha Cels's evidence.
On one occasion, when Amy was nine months pregate, Natasha recalled that David came home drunk and a fight started as Amy was unhappy with him. For going out drinking at such a time. Amy began yelling at him, and then they both had a grip on each other, pushing and shoving. David eventually pushed Amy into the kitchen and grabbed her around the neck while she was still grabbing
on to him, as she never backed down. Amy and Natasha had spoken about suicide in two thousand and nine when Natasha was experiencing her own relationship issues, and Natasha strongly recalled Amy telling her that no man is ever worth killing yourself over. Natasha believed that Amy's view on that would never change. One of Amy's more recent friends, Shelley Stanley, who was still in close contact with Amy before her death, also prepared a statement and gave evidence
at the inquest. Shelley met with Amy in twenty twelve and saw her for the last time about twelve days before her death at a barbecue. Miss Stanley described Amy as a kind, thoughtful, and insl rightful person who was mature beyond her years, and an amazing mother. Shelley and her ex partner used to regularly go camping with Amy
and David, and Shelley and Amy became close. Shelley became aware that things weren't going well between Amy and David, and she understood Amy was saving money so she could leave him and move out with her daughters. Amy told Shelley she just wanted a peaceful, quiet house without all
the anger and aggression that came with David. The text messages that Amy and Shelley exchanged certainly indicate that Amy was very unhappy about David's drinking and felt he wasn't willing to put in the effort to save their relationship, so even though she wanted to keep her family together, in May twenty fourteen, she had been making plans to
take her daughters and move out. Based on all the information obtained, the WA police concluded Amy and David's relationship had been tumultuous and characterized by arguments, but there was no confirmed evidence of physical violence by David towards.
I'm just going to stop here and repeat what the coroner just said, No confirmed evidence of physical violence by David towards Amy. She goes on to say.
Indeed, the only direct witness accounts of any physical violence between the pair came from evidence of the two friends who were present on the day of Amy's death, Gareth and Josh, where they witnessed Amy assaulting David and David physically restraining Amy. Both these witnesses described this incident as out of character for both of them, and Amy as the aggressor. It's clear from the evidence that despite the difficulties in the relationship, Amy was committed to trying to
make it work. In my opinion, some of the most compelling evidence of Amy and David's relationship comes from reading their messages to each other that were downloaded from their phones. They were obviously private messages, so I won't repeat them in too much detail.
However, there are.
Messages on the twenty sixth of May twenty fourteen that indicate David and Amy were talking about getting married. Their message exchanges are generally affectionate, although there is some obvious jealousy on both their parts. On the twenty ninth of May twenty fourteen, they had an argument and Amy offered to move out and complained about the fact it was David's father's property so she wanted to get her own place.
She also suggested she.
Would leave both girls with David, at least temporarily until she found a place of her own. However, this blew over quickly and the messages returned to normal. These messages support the descriptions of the relationship being volatile and subject to jealousy and threats of separation, but also that they also appeared committed to each other. Although they had separated a couple of times, particularly due to David's drinking, Amy had taken him back each time as he promised he
would change. However, Nancy believes that on the night Amy died, things had changed and Amy had had enough she wasn't going back. David, on the other hand, gave evidence that he thought it was their usual kind of fight and she would leave and then return as usual.
So in short, there was not enough evidence of domestic violence extraordinary.
Next week, we probe deeper into why Robert Simmons' first thought upon finding Amy dead was that his son killed her, and how Amy's friend and Gareth's ex wife. We made las bar slice for the kids, We got vegetables ready for dinner, and then the boys were late, so I went home and then that was it was threatened after she was accused of being a snitch.
Rachel, you're a give up dog.
I no longer have a sister.
It's gloves off. When I see your next maggot, I'll be coming for you, So take your big hole and fuck off somewhere for good.
You listen your c.
SO deation.
We both know the now set you me.
S.
If you knew Amy and have information, any information about her death, we'd love to hear from you. Just email us at The Truth about Amy at seven dot com dot au. That's s e V E N The Truth about Amy at seven dot com dot Au, or visit our website sevenews dot com dot Au forward slash the Truth about Amy. You can also send us an anonymous tip at www dot the Truth about Amy dot com.
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because it really helps new listeners to find us. Presenter and executive producer Alison Sandy, Presenter and investigative journalist Liam Bartlett, sound design Mark Wright, Assistant producer Cassie Woodward, Graphics Jason Blandford, and special thanks to Tim Clark and Brian Seymour. This is a seven News production.