Man granted retrial on murder of teen Tiffany Taylor
The man convicted of murdering pregnant teen sex worker Tiffany Taylor in 2015 has been granted a retrial by the Court of Appeal.
Rodney Wayne Williams has been granted a retrial after successfully appealing against his conviction for the murder of Tiffany Taylor (AAP Image/ Queensland police)
Rodney Wayne Williams, 65, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison after a 19-day trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court in March 2020.
The 16-year-old disappeared in July 2015 after allegedly meeting Williams for a paid sexual liaison.
Her body has never been found.
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal found Williams had been “denied a fair chance of acquittal” and ordered the father of three be granted a new trial.
During his first trial, Williams pleaded not guilty and denied having sex with the teen.
His defence team claimed he had given her lift to Redbank Plains, a suburb of Ipswich, where she jumped out of his car at an intersection.
Williams later changed his story, saying he dropped Tiffany off at a truck stop on the Warrego Highway, which was the last time he saw her.
Forensic officers later found splatters of Tiffany’s blood inside Williams’ car, which he blamed on a nose bleed the teen had before dropping her at the truck stop west of Ipswich.
Taylor had previously been charged with attempted extortion after she blackmailed another man she met for sex with threats to tell police he had raped her if he did not pay $3000.
The Court of Appeal ordered the retrial after finding trial judge Ann Lyons had erred in directions to the jury before the verdict leading to a miscarriage of justice.
‘The directions … left it open to the jury to speculate that Tiffany’s proclivity to demand and extort money was proof that the appellant intended to kill her,” the court found.
“No such case was advanced by the Crown nor, on the evidence, could it have been.”
The appeal court also found instructions regarding evidence Tiffany had been seen alive after leaving Williams had been incorrectly outlined to the jury.
“The possibility that Tiffany was alive after the day upon which the Crown alleged that the appellant had killed her was an important part of the defence case, but the defence bore no onus to prove that as a fact,” the Appeal Court found.
“On the contrary, the Crown had to satisfy the jury that (the witnesses) had not seen Tiffany.”
A new trial is expected to be heard in the Brisbane Supreme Court at a later date.
