Accused bondage murderer testifies
- Toby Walker
- 7th August 2008
A WOMAN accused of killing her husband during an ill-fated bondage session at their Beerburrum home said she had tied him up "hundreds, possibly thousands" of times during their 20 years together.
Geoffrey Clarence Braunack died from asphyxia after being tied to a concrete post by his wife Jean Margaret Meiers on the patio of the couple's Caves Road home in the evening of November 1, 2004.
At Braunack's request, Meiers, 58, allegedly tied rope around his neck, arms and ankles and wrapped his head, including his mouth and eyes, with three roles of packing tape before leaving him alone while she went to take a shower.
When she returned the then 47-year-old concreter, wearing only a pair of blue running shorts, was dead.
He was showing signs he had struggled in his bindings.
Meiers pleaded not guilty in Brisbane's Supreme Court to unlawfully killing Mr Braunack, having explained that her husband had always escaped from such situations in the past.
"How do I explain it?" she told police with her head in her hands during a video taped interview played to the court.
"(I) tied him up as tight as I possibly could and (Geoffrey would say) 'I bet you can't tie me up so I can't escape', which was the goad."
Meiers told police Mr Braunack's penchant for submission started soon after they began seeing each other in 1984, beginning with a pair of handcuffs and moving to requests to spray paint his body or apply make-up to him during the occasions she tied him up.
Usually he could free himself from such bindings in 10 to 15 minutes, she said in evidence, but when she looked out of a bedroom window see Mr Braunack's motionless body standing awkwardly in the darkened patio area she sensed something was wrong.
"I thought he was playing games with me," she told police in the interview.
"I know that sounds sick but you have to live with the person to know."
During his cross-examination Crown Prosecutor Greg Cummings suggested to Meiers that she had not checked the tightness of the rope around Mr Braunack's neck as she had claimed and that she deliberately tied it tighter than usual to "scare" him because she was resentful toward his drinking and "degrading" requests.
"You always give an inch," she explained of the rope's tightness.
"I'm not a dominatrix or anything like that, I don't know the tricks of the trade.
"I just thought I would take a shower and he would escape."
The trial continues.
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