The seedy underbelly of a tropical paradise is being revealed as a cold case murder trial attempts to uncover what happened to 21-year-old Jay Brogden 15 years ago.
On Monday in the Supreme Court in Mackay Braddon Peter Charles Butler pleaded not guilty to killing the young father, who was last seen in Airlie Beach in April 2007.
Mr Brogden's body was never found.
"Suddenly, very suddenly, instantaneously, he vanished," Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane told the jury of seven men and five women during his opening statement.
Mr Crane warned the jurors that they would be hearing about a town familiar to them but the world that would be revealed would likely sound foreign.
"Frankly, a nice place to visit — but what you'll hear about Airlie Beach about this particular time is that there is an underworld of it, there's a flavour of those who take drugs, use drugs and sell drugs in this trial," he said.
Mr Crane told the jury Mr Butler was Mr Brogden's friend and his drug dealer.
He told the court Mr Brogden often owed Mr Butler money.
Mr Crane said Mr Brogden had been experiencing "growing pains" and "wasn't perfect", but loved his family and was loved in return.
Mr Brogden was described as an adventurous man who enjoyed sharing his passion for fishing with his young relatives.
"Jay loved fishing," Mr Crane said.
"He did [it] almost every single day while while living in Airlie Beach.
"He would work and build his own lures — he had a tackle box that was almost his bible."
'Fed him to the sharks'
During his opening address, Mr Crane told the jurors they would hear from up to 30 witnesses, several of whom allegedly had heard Mr Butler alluding to killing Mr Brogden.
Mr Crane told the court Mr Butler had made threats to those people if they were ever to repeat what he had said.
Mr Crane said one witness would recall a discussion between Mr Butler and a second man involving their telling of a story about coaxing a man to Funnel Bay, where they "got rid of him and fed him to the sharks".
Mr Crane told the jury Mr Butler had allegedly showed up at the house of a former friend, Britt Neal, in 2017 and threatened her after she posted something on Facebook about Mr Brogden.
The court heard from six witnesses following Mr Crane's opening — Jay Brogden's mother, Gina Merritt, his aunt, Caroline Merritt, Detective Sergeant Luke Scells, his former partner Patricia Heath and his former workmates, Ray Hadley and Tony Hadley.
During her examination, Gina Merritt cried as she told the court how regularly she would speak to her son.
Mysterious phone calls
During cross-examination, Mr Butler's barrister, Scott Lynch, asked Ms Merritt about phone calls she had overheard between her son and another person while Mr Brogden was visiting her in Newcastle for his 21st birthday.
The court heard the visit happened about a month before he disappeared.
Ms Merritt said Mr Brogden planned to move back to be near her, but first he needed to finish a job for someone in Airlie Beach.
She said during his three week visit in march, her son was repeatedly called on his phone.
"I don't know who he got the phone calls from," Ms Merritt told the court.
"All I know is that they made him feel physically sick."
The court heard Mr Brogden would vomit and shake after receiving them.
During Mr Lynch's cross-examination of Sergeant Scells, he asked about the rumours and theories that circulated at Airlie Beach at that time about who killed Mr Brogden.
The detective confirmed the rumours included several people.
The trial will continue in the Supreme Court in Mackay on Thursday.
