Explosive messages between Army major and his late wife reveal his affair two years before he was accused of drowning her on a kayaking trip then moving to Thailand
Text messages between a retired Australian Army major and the wife he is accused of killing reveal the alleged fallout of an affair he had while posted to Papua New Guinea.
In one message, Jacqueline Davidson appeared to refer to her husband Graeme’s lover as a ‘black count’ and accused the pair of having sex while she was trying to call him.
Graeme Davidson, now 56, is accused of drowning 54-year-old Jacqueline while they were kayaking north of Brisbane in November 2020, two years after the affair.
Jacqueline’s death was initially treated as an accident, but after a coronial investigation, the father of her three children was arrested in May and charged with murder.
The career military man was also charged with fraud offences related to claims on Jacqueline’s superannuation and life insurance policy totalling about $1.2million.
Davidson moved to Thailand four months after his wife died, and in December 2022 married Patsatraporn Tepcumpa, also known as Pick Pattraporn, who was more than 20 years his junior.
He had flown back to Brisbane to attend his eldest daughter’s wedding when police pounced on him, and spent the next three months in prison.
Davidson was granted bail last week after a hearing in the Brisbane Supreme Court, where details emerged of an affair he had with a local PNG woman.
Retired Army major Graeme Davidson is accused of drowning his wife Jacqueline (both pictured) while they were kayaking, a year after she learnt he had been having an affair
Davidson moved to Thailand four months after his wife died and in December 2022 married Patsatraporn Tepcumpa, also known as Pick Pattraporn (above)
The accused killer does not dispute having the affair but insists there is no evidence Jacqueline had been contemplating leaving him in the lead-up to her death.
Scottish-born Davidson spent 22 years in the British Army and rose to the rank of captain, before donning an Australian uniform for 11 more years in service of his new homeland.
In late 2018, he was posted to PNG and began an affair which his wife discovered when an unnamed friend of the woman sharing her husband’s bed contacted her a year later.
Details of what allegedly happened next were outlined in written submissions tendered by Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco at Davidson’s bail application.
According to those submissions, Jacqueline’s friend Amanda Herron was living in the same PNG complex as the Davidsons when the affair was revealed on June 23, 2019.
Sometime after midnight, Ms Herron ‘was woken by [Jacqueline] at the door and returned to the apartment she shared with [Davidson] where she observed property damage’.
‘[Jacqueline] told her that [Davidson] had been cheating on her. A friend of the young lady involved had sent the deceased messages to prove it.’
Davidson was granted leave and returned to Australia with his wife on June 25. He later applied for a reposting so he would not have to go back to PNG.
Davidson was granted bail last week after a hearing in which details emerged of an affair he had with a PNG woman. He is pictured with one of his daughters on August 8
According to the Crown’s written submissions, Jacqueline continued to confide in Ms Herron as she was ‘trying to figure out what she wanted’.
‘[Davidson] was continually apologising and wanted to put it behind them but [Jacqueline] said that [Davidson] said those things to her in an “angry tone”,’ the submissions stated.
‘[Jacqueline] shared with her the messages that she had received about the other woman and asked her to keep a copy, which she did.’
Once back in Brisbane, Jacqueline ‘was finding it very hard to deal with the affair and talked about it a lot’, according to the Crown submissions.
Jacqueline told her friend Emmanuelle Jean-Baptiste she had been sent pictures of her husband with the other woman and ‘that led to an argument and [Davidson] losing his role’.
On July 21, Jacqueline sent Ms Jean-Baptiste a text which began: ‘Hi ya update for you I sent him the pics last night & he was so shocked that id seen his affair pics over the that length of time.’
‘He said he had no idea the pics were taken and admitted to having her living with him for a short time… probs months.
‘He’s trying to delete face book and messenger as hes sure thats how they are contacting me. I can’t believe he moved her in… she told him she had no where to live.’
Jacqueline’s death was initially treated as an accident, but after a coronial investigation, the father of her three children was arrested in May and charged with murder
In another message to the same friend, Jacqueline wrote: ‘Can you look at her Instagram pic and check the date of the hotel pics… I’m sure he just booked the most expensive one in PNG for them.’
Communications between Davidson and his wife of 35 years ‘showed the strain the affair had on their marriage’, according to the Crown’s submissions.
On September 4, 2019, Davidson told Jacqueline: ‘Still thinking of you. I’m sorry what I said could be taken like an ultimatum when we are in a fragile place. I didn’t mean to rock the boat!’
On October 1, Jacqueline told Davidson: ‘Check the time when I was calling you, you were f***ing. Didn’t even comment. Check time still f***ing black count. And still no comment.’
Less than an hour later, Davidson responded: ‘I can’t change what is in the past, so I’m concentrating on the present and future. I’m so sorry for the pain and anger that I’ve caused you.
‘I’ll never do a single thing to cause you pain or anger in the future. I don’t know what else I can do and I’m doing it as transparently as possible.
‘This is considered and I am utterly committed. I hope its enough for you. I think “us” is fantastic and I won’t ever let go or let you down in the future of us.’
According to the Crown’s submissions, Jacqueline told Ms Jean-Baptiste she had spoken to Davidson about divorce but that conversation ‘didn’t go well’.
Davidson’s barrister Craig Eberhardt KC (left) and Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco (right) tendered written submissions for the accused killer’s bail application
‘[Davidson] was focused on their finances and calculated what would happen if they separated,’ the submissions continued.
‘[Davidson] said to [Jacqueline] that he would fight for what he had and she would not end up with a lot. He wanted their house… and said his army pension was his.’
Jacqueline drowned while kayaking with Davidson in separate vessels on Lake Samsonvale on November 27, 2020. The prosecution’s case is circumstantial.
Three weeks after his wife’s body was pulled from the lake, Davidson successfully claimed $287,280.65 from her superannuation death benefit.
He made another claim on her $950,000 life insurance policy which has not been paid.
Davidson’s daughters, nurse Brooke and high school teacher Robyn, as well as son Hamish, who lives in Thailand, are all supporting him.
In Davidson’s written submissions for his bail application, barrister Craig Eberhardt stated his client had never been violent towards Jacqueline.
‘It is self-evident that many marriages experience difficulties, including infidelity,’ Mr Eberhardt said.
‘Although tragically too common, there is a dramatic difference between the frequency of divorce and the frequency of intimate partner homicide.
‘Despite the discord that the affair caused the relationship in 2019, there is no suggestion of domestic disharmony, let alone domestic violence, in 2020.
‘There is no evidence that Jacqueline was contemplating leaving [Davidson] in November 2020 or that the applicant believed she would leave him.’
Mr Eberhardt submitted Davidson would not receive a trial listing until late 2026 at the earliest and ‘it could well take much longer than that’ for him to go before a jury.
