Sam Emery: Australian correspondent on the trial over alleged murder of Australian brothers beginning in Mexico

The alleged killers of two Australian brothers and one American are on trial for murder in Mexico.

Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend, Jack Carter Rhoad, were reportedly shot dead after being robbed at a surfing hot-spot in Baja.

Australian correspondent Sam Emery says three suspects are on trial for the murders, and the case is expected to run for four weeks.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sam Emery, Aussie Correspondence with us. Hi, Sam. G'day, Heather. Now,
this trial for the men accused of killing those brothers
in Mexico, do we expect this to be run properly? Well,
there's plenty of odd things surrounding the case, that's for sure, Heather.
A judge in Mexico has ordered three accused killers out
of his own courtroom after prosecutors told him witnesses had

(00:21):
been intimidated. So the three are on trial in Ensenada
over the murders of Perth brothers Jake and Callum Robinson.
and their American friend Carter Road, who was shot dead
near the beach near their campsite in 2024. Prosecutors say
two witnesses were approached by people connected to the accused.
Both are now in witness protection. And while these witnesses

(00:41):
gave evidence, the men dressed in their bright orange prison
jumpsuits were moved to a completely different room. The first
witness described being on the beach the night the brothers vanished,
hearing a gunshot and running and hiding in a bathroom
for half an hour. He says he was then warned afterwards.
to say nothing. The deceased brother's parents flew there from
Perth to be there. They wanted the accused to see

(01:04):
the human consequences in person. The oddities continue with the
trial as well, Heather. It's a single judge with no
jury and a new judge who is appearing remotely that
was appointed at the last minute after the original judge
was in an accident over the weekend. So plenty more
to come. The trial resumes at one o'clock tomorrow. It's
expected to run for more than four weeks, but it's, yeah,

(01:26):
it's all very strange and you just feel for those families. Yeah, absolutely. Now,
what's going on with Labor and the sports rorts? Yes,
the pork barreling back in the headlines here. We love
a bit of pork barreling here in Australia. It's more
than $ 400 million from a $ 560 million grants program that
seemingly went to Labor seats and the program was invitation only.

(01:49):
So that's a finding from the Centre for Public Integrity.
It's stating that community groups could not put a hand up.
They had to be chosen first. And the government hasn't
quite explained who did the choosing and how they came
to assess them all. The example that might sting the
most to Heather is the $ 6 million for a golf
club in the prime minister's own electorate, while other clubs

(02:11):
in federal seats are saying they were never even asked.
Of course, it's not illegal, but there's strict rules and
guidelines for obvious reasons. The infrastructure minister in charge of
it all, says that the projects were tested for value
for money and the ministers cannot sign off in their
own seats. And they obviously followed longstanding practice. But I
think you might have hit the nail on the head there, Heather.

(02:31):
You might remember Labor spent years hammering the coalition over
sports rorts and the coalition frontbencher who's leading the attack
on all of this, Bridget McKenzie, who resigned over sports rorts. Oh, wow.
What a surprise. Hey, thank you very much, Sam, as always.
It's good to talk to you, mate. Sam Emery. For
more from Heather Duplessy-Allen Drive, listen live to News Talk
ZB from 4 p.m. weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.