Singer Pete Murray 'overhears' brutal domestic attack on friend
Australian singer Pete Murray reportedly told police he overheard a shocking domestic violence attack on a female friend, and will now become a star witness in the case.
According to NewsCorp, Murray told police he took a call from Anne Cavanough around 10.50am on August 5, 2014 and the two discussed her divorce settlement.
It was while Murray was on the phone that he claims he heard victim Cavanough say ‘Jason, what are you doing here?’.
“I heard Anne scream, then I heard, for about 20 seconds, repeated hard thumping sounds,” Murray claims in court documents.
He alleges the phone line went silent despite calling out to her through the mobile.
The singer then raced over to his friend’s home where he found her beaten unconscious, unable to get up.
'I saw the left side of her had a massive big swollen area on her cheek and temple. There was a lot of blood as well coming from her head. She seemed totally out of it,' he said.
It’s alleged Ms Cavanough was attacked by former partner Jason Anthony Rutter at her Byron Bay home.
Rutter was later arrested by police following a two-week manhunt.
Murray said he and Cavanough became friends through their children, who attend the same school.
Court documents allege Cavanough was left with a severe traumatic brain injury, including the loss of taste and smell, reduced feeling on her right side and a change to the structure of her brain.
Just this week Cavanough wrote a heartbreaking Facebook post, describing her life as “torture” after the brutal assault.
“I remember what it is like to be normal so it makes it harder when I can't be,” she posted.
“I try so hard to accept the different me and fit in to normality and hope I can sustain it long enough to go unnoticed, but it is noticed and it does get pointed out to me.
“That makes it even harder, when you struggle every minute of your waking day and think you are doing alright and feel normal again even if it's only for a few minutes you get to experience a taste of your old self.”
Rutter will appear in court again on November 4.
