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A couple accused of murdering a teenage girl did so because they wanted custody of a child, a court has been told.
Robert, 64, and Anna Geeves, 63, were arrested and charged with murder in 2022 after a cold case reward over the death of Amber Haigh was increased to $1 million.
The 19-year-old mother had vanished while she was living with the retired couple at their Harden property in NSW in 2002.
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Haigh, who had an intellectual disability, had been in a sexual relationship with Robert.
Crown Prosecutor Paul Kerr today claimed the Geeveses killed Haigh in order to gain custody of a five-month-old child.
"It was always the intention of the Geeves to assume custody and care of the child but knew Amber had to be removed from the equation," he said.
The defence refuted these claims.
"Both accused must have foreseen such an act would result in the child being taken from their care in the faintest of suspicions," public defender Paul Coady acting for Robert said.
"Anne's only concern was to look after the child that Robert had brought into their own relationship, whether she was happy about that or not she did not kill Haigh and nor did she stand by as her husband killed her," public defender Michael King acting for Anne added.
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The couple claimed the last time they saw Haigh was in June 2002, when they drove her to Campbelltown Railway Station to visit her dying father in hospital.
The pair didn't report her missing until two weeks later.
Haigh's body has never been found.
Her mother is among a list of witnesses to take the stand in the judge-only trial, which has been set down for eight weeks.
The court will also hear covert recordings planted by police in the Geeveses' home and car.
