An Australian couple accused of murdering their teenage lodger before feeding her body to pigs so they could steal her baby are now facing trial after being arrested 20 years after the alleged crime.
Robert and Anne Geeves, both 64, have pleaded not guilty to murdering 19-year-old Amber Haigh, who disappeared from the Geeves’ home in New South Wales in 2002.
Haigh, who suffered from mental problems, was staying with the couple along with her five-month-old son (fathered by Robert) and was last seen in public on 2 June 2002.
The Geeves say she was taken to a train station near Sydney on June 5 so she could visit her father, who was terminally ill in hospital.
The teenage mother never made it to the hospital and was never seen again.
Her case remained unsolved for years until Australian police arrested Mr and Mrs Geeves in May 2022, almost exactly two decades after Haigh disappeared.
Now chilling details of the case have emerged, with prosecutors alleging the couple used Haigh as a “surrogate mother”, before killing her and disposing of her body by feeding it to pigs.
Investigators also discovered that the Geeves had purchased a chainsaw around the time of Haigh’s disappearance, after finding the end of a cheque they used to pay for it.
Amber Haigh (pictured) disappeared without a trace in 2002. Her body was never found.
Amber Haigh (left), her son Royce Haigh and Robert Geeves (right), the baby’s father.
Amber’s son was only six months old when his mother disappeared without a trace.
Haigh was reported missing on 19 June 2002, after failing to return to her home in Kingsvale, near Harden in New South Wales, where she and her five-month-old son had been living with the Geeves family.
Police were told the couple dropped the young mother off at Campbelltown train station on June 5 and she intended to travel from there to Mt Druitt in Sydney’s west to visit her sick father in hospital.
A coroner’s inquest in 2011 determined that Haigh died as a result of homicide or another accident in June 2002, and police, suspecting the Geeves’ involvement in the crime, installed listening devices in their home.
But they were never able to gather enough evidence to charge the couple.
In 2020, a formal review of the case was undertaken by the Homicide Squad’s Unsolved Homicides Unit and a new investigation was launched, culminating in the arrest of Robert and Anne Geeves in May 2022.
During the trial, now in its seventh week, the Australian court heard how Haigh “adored” her infant son and was said to “never let him out of her sight” – a characterisation that raised questions about whether she left the baby with the Geeves while she went off alone to visit her father.
Prosecutors told the court the couple had one son – he had previously dated Haigh – but desperately wanted another child, having given birth to a stillborn baby after suffering three miscarriages.
Haigh’s child was fathered by Robert, with whom she had had a sexual relationship, but a family counsellor who met Haigh months before she disappeared told the court she was “a very vulnerable young woman” who “would struggle to understand the difference between love and exploitation”.
In her client’s notes handed to the court, counsel Emma Badlock revealed that Haigh deeply loved her son and feared the Geeves would try to gain sole custody of him.
“Amber claims that if Anne and Robert try to hit on (her son) because they want a baby, she will tell them to back off,” the notes read.
The Guardian Haigh and Robert Geeves reportedly signed a handwritten agreement stating that Geeves would not attempt to take custody of the child unless Haigh put the child in contact with members of his own family.
Haigh had a “dysfunctional” relationship with her extended family, the court heard, and was allegedly subjected to violence and sexual abuse.
Anne Margaret Geeves (pictured during her arrest) and her husband have pleaded not guilty to murdering her teenage flatmate.
Another key part of the prosecution’s case is evidence that Mr Geeves called a number of rural properties close to his home at the time of Ms Haigh’s disappearance, asking if he could access their land to borrow farming equipment or collect firewood.
“The theory of the Crown’s case is that it was always the Geeves’ intention to assume custody and care of Amber,” Crown prosecutor Paul Kerr told the court in his opening statement.
‘But they knew that to do that, they had to take Amber out of the equation… so –the crown claims– they killed her.’
The Geeves have pleaded not guilty to murder charges and have consistently denied any involvement in Haigh’s disappearance.
Meanwhile, the couple’s lawyers argue that prosecutors’ case against their clients is riddled with flaws, that they have no clear evidence that the Geeves murdered Haigh and attribute speculation about their involvement in her disappearance to “disgust” at Robert’s sexual relationship with “a much younger woman with intellectual disabilities”.
“Many witnesses have had complaints or suspicions particularly against Mr Geeves… who denies being involved in any way in (Haigh’s) disappearance or murder,” barrister Paul Coady told the court.
Another member of Geeves’ legal team added that Anne Geeves “had no motive to kill Amber or wish her death” and dismissed the case against her as fuelled by “mistrust and suspicion”.
Haigh was reported missing on 19 June 2002, after failing to return to her home in Kingsvale, near Harden in New South Wales, where she and her five-month-old son had been living with the Geeves.
Amber Haigh is seen in 2002, the year she disappeared.
Lawyers also ridiculed testimony from a witness, a former legal secretary, who claimed Haigh feared for her life and wanted to make a will while she was pregnant to prevent Robert from gaining custody of the child.
Legal secretary Rebecca Pisaturo-McMillan testified that Haigh arrived at the law offices in August 2001, claiming that he needed the document “for the safety of his son.”
“(Ms Haigh) was very direct and adamant that once her child was born, her life would be taken,” Pisaturo-McMillan told the court.
But defence lawyer Coady countered that none of the secretary’s physical notes from her meeting with Haigh mentioned her fearing for her life, and suggested this was because Haigh never actually made any comment on the matter.
He went on to claim the legal secretary had “mixed up” evidence after years of negative press and rumours about the Geeves.
Last month, the Geeves’ son Robbie was called as a witness by the prosecution.
She did not accuse her parents of killing Haigh but said her relationship with them had been irreparably damaged after her father impregnated the teenager, whom Robbie had previously dated.
“I don’t know how to put it nicely: she was my ex-girlfriend, you can’t have a little brother from your ex-girlfriend… it’s not right,” he said.
The Geeves are facing a judge-only trial at the request of their legal team, who say the media storm over their alleged involvement would have affected the jury pool given the length and notoriety of the case.
The trial, presided over by Judge Julia Lonergan, is still ongoing.
