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Doused in petrol
Tuesday 8 April, 2008 12:01am
THE house where Northmead woman Lauren Huxley was bashed and left for dead was set on fire after petrol was splashed around the house, a court has been told.
Ms Huxley was struck a number of times with a pair of metal fibro cutters, doused in petrol and left in the garage of her home which was then set alight in November 2005.
She suffered extensive head and facial injuries and was on life support for 23 days.
The 21-year-old has no memory of the attack that left her with permanent brain damage.
Westmead man Robert Black Farmer, 39, is standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court over her attempted murder.
Farmer has pleaded not guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent to murder, detaining Ms Huxley without consent and causing malicious damage to a house.
DNA matching Farmer's was found in Ms Huxley's bedroom and on the cap of a fuel tin found in the garage, the trial has heard.
Crime scene assessor Det-Sgt Charles Agius yesterday told the jury the house fire started in the kitchen where gas from the stove was ignited by a toaster.
A number of items throughout the house had been soaked in petrol, including a shirt and mattress in Ms Huxley's bedroom, Det-Sgt Agius said.
In the living room a shirt, tracksuit pants, towel and a sheet were covered in fuel and left on a rocking chair with a grey handbag also doused and left in the kitchen.
In the garage where Ms Huxley was found, a number of items of clothing were soaked with petrol, Det-Sgt Agius said.
The jury was also shown the fibro cutters allegedly used to bash Ms Huxley.
Dressed in a dark suit and spectacles, Farmer made notes throughout the evidence.
The trial continues before Justice Peter Hall.
AAP
