Jacqueline Sturgess was using a screwdriver to dismantle a desk when her estranged husband came from behind, swinging a 1.8kg sledgehammer against the back of her head, a court has been told.
The mother-of-two suffered severe skull fractures and died on the floor of the house she had shared with her husband of 17 years, while he discarded the weapon and went drinking, prosecutors allege.
An offer by Shaun Robert Sturgess to plead guilty to manslaughter was rejected by the Crown at the start of a Brisbane Supreme Court trial on Monday.
Instead he will face a jury charged with murder, with prosecutors saying evidence shows Sturgess intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm when he hit the 45-year-old with a hammer in April 2020.
It seems the former fly-in, fly-out mine worker, who had been home for about a year spending a lot of time drinking alcohol, could not come to terms with their relationship breakdown and accused his wife of "fleecing" him, prosecutor Chris Cook said.
After the killing, Sturgess, then aged 50, threw the hammer into bushland before walking about a kilometre to a bottle shop, drinking and taking a taxi to a friend's house at Rocklea.
During the 70-minute drive he appeared to be speaking to himself allegedly saying things like: "I'm in trouble, eh ... My whole life's f***ed."
Sturgess didn't mention his wife until the following afternoon at his friend's house when he said things like "my mum and dad are going to hate me" and no one's ever going to speak to me again, Mr Cook told jurors.
When the friend asked why, an upset Sturgess allegedly said: "I've failed, she's gone, she's gone - I've f***ing killed her."
Sturgess said he told his wife not to come over as he wasn't in a good place.
"She then rocked up and started on me, when she started on me I fed it to her, I cleaned her up," he allegedly told the friend.
Police found Ms Sturgess' body face down in a pool of blood the day after she was hit before tracking her estranged husband to the friend's house.
Mr Cook said jurors will hear Sturgess told police on the way to the watch house: "It just unfolded, I clubbed her."
Asked what he meant, he said something like "I bludgeoned her".
He told officers he didn't want to kill her, blaming her for her own death, saying she basically drove him to it, Mr Cook said.
In a formal interview he told police he "sort of, like, leapt at her" and it just happened so quick.
Asked what Ms Sturgess was saying immediately before he struck her, Sturgess said: "I think it would have been about child support ... and she was just fleecing, taking."
Defence barrister Chris Wilson said the real issue was about intent because it was not disputed that Sturgess unlawfully killed his wife.
"I'm simply asking you to keep, at this stage, an open mind until you hear all of the evidence."
The trial, set down for five days before Justice Elizabeth Wilson, is expected to hear from 12 witnesses.
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