The Crown prosecutor’s case against John Bowie has concluded with two former partners accusing him of domestic violence.
WARNING: Readers are advised that this article contains details some people may find distressing.
The 72-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Roxlyn Bowie, who disappeared from their Walgett home in north-west New South Wales on June 5, 1982.
Ms Bowie’s body has never been found.
Less than three weeks after she disappeared, Mr Bowie moved from Walgett to Sydney and in that July met Anne Archer, who he later married.
Ms Archer – who now goes by Anne Bowie – told the court her "on-and-off-again" relationship with Mr Bowie had "a lot of violence".
She told the court she received medical treatment for injuries to her "arms, fractured ribs, left leg – the cruciate ligament" and said she had her top lip "stitched up from being punched in the mouth".
Ms Archer said she required surgery on her leg for an injury sustained when "John picked me up off the bed and threw me to the floor".
"It would start off with screaming, hitting, punching. I was struck on the arms, the chest, the legs," she said.
"The bruising was so bad I used to have to wear my nursing cardigan in summer to work."
Defence barrister Winston Terracini SC put to Ms Archer that the couple often fought about Mr Bowie's infidelity and in "many fights you belted him".
Ms Archer insisted when she was violent with her husband it "was only in retaliation".
The court heard parts of a statement Ms Archer made to police in 1988 in which she said she found "some ladies jewellery", including an engagement ring, in a glass jar at the home she shared with Mr Bowie.
Ms Archer said they considered using the diamonds in Roxlyn's engagement ring to make a new ring for her engagement to Mr Bowie, but ultimately "he pawned it".
The defence pointed out that although Ms Archer was now claiming she had found a wedding ring in the glass jar, in her police statement there was no mention of that ring.
Reports of violence
Donna Kuhnell first met Mr Bowie in "about 1996" when she was a single mother living in Pottsville in northern NSW.
The couple moved in together on the Queensland Sunshine Coast and in March 1999 welcomed a daughter, Sarah.
They were in an "on-and-off" relationship for about 10 years, finally separating in 2006.
Ms Kuhnell told the court Mr Bowie struck her during an argument while driving with their then-three-year-old daughter in the car.
"He use his hand and struck me across the side of the lip and face … my lip started to swell up," she said.
About a year later, Ms Kuhnell said she was living with her children at her mother's place at Murwillumbah in northern NSW.
She said Mr Bowie turned up one day, "he wasn't supposed to be there" and wanted to move in.
Ms Kuhnell said when she declined he became angry.
"He pushed me up against the side of the house with his hand around my throat and told me he was moving in," she told the court.
"It was quite hard, I could still breathe but could feel [his hand] pressing against my airway.
"It was probably about 15, 20 seconds."
Discussions about Roxlyn Bowie
Ms Kuhnell told the court she was aware Ms Bowie had gone missing but only asked Mr Bowie about it once.
"I asked him if he knew what happened to Roxlyn," she said.
"He just got angry and yelled at me for asking and doubting him."
Ms Kuhnell said when driving on one occasion, Mr Bowie became angry about the situation.
"He was venting, saying the police had looked in 'roo pits and down a mine shaft and didn't find anything there," she said.
Ms Kuhnell told the court the accused said: "If I was going to do anything to Roxlyn I'd have fed her to the pigs because there'd be nothing left".
Ms Kuhnell didn't agree with the defence's suggestion that Mr Bowie was protesting his innocence during that conversation.
"He never said 'I had nothing to do with it,'" she said.
The Crown Prosector Alex Morris is set to make his closing address on Monday.
