Teen wasn't with murder-accused just a few hours after planned Sydney trip

Former Boorowa man James Arber took the witness stand in the Wagga Supreme Court on Wednesday, where he recalled meeting Robert Samuel Geeves and wife Anne Margaret Geeves with Ms Haigh and a baby in 2002.

The last day Ms Haigh was seen alive was June 5, 2002. More than two weeks later, on June 19, Mr Geeves reported he and his wife had driven the teen to Campbelltown train station that night.

She has not been seen since and the couple now stand trial accused of her murder.

In court on Wednesday, Mr Arber recalled meeting the Geeveses in mid-June 2002 outside his grandmother's hobby farm on Trucking Yard Road, about five minutes out of Boorowa, while he was heading home from school that day.

He was about 18 years old at the time.

When he reached his grandmother's driveway, Mr Arber found Mr Geeves had parked a canary yellow Suzuki jeep and was waiting for his father, who arrived home a short time later.

They then drove into the property and parked near "grandma's house".

Mr Arber recalled Mr and Mrs Geeves were there with Amber Haigh, and that Mrs Geeves was holding a baby. He said he understood Mr Geeves owed his father some money for repairing a car.

Mr Geeves and Mr Arber's father conversed "for ages" and spoke about a whole manner of things including a trip the Geeveses were going on.

"I remember they was saying they were going to go to Sydney," Mr Arber said, noting the destination was "about a four-hour drive" from his grandmother's place.

Mr Arber also recalled his father joking that the group was going to drive to Sydney in the Suzuki.

His father asked "'Are you going to drive this?' in a joking tone, meaning the car wasn't going to make it to Sydney, Mr Arber said.

The court heard Mr Arber's father had worked on a vineyard with Mr Geeves, who had asked the long-time panel beater if he could fix the yellow car two years prior.

While Mr Arber's dad had done most of the work, he told the court he helped out a bit as well.

Recounting his meeting with the Geeveses in June 2002, Mr Arber said he met Ms Haigh for the first time on that occasion, describing her as "very skinny" and "a bit tallish".

On first impressions, he thought the teen was the Geeveses' daughter, but also noted she seemed "a bit backwards" and "couldn't talk properly".

"Every time I would ask her something, Anne or Robert would talk for her," Mr Arber said.

He recalled one occasion when he asked if Ms Haigh went to a school in Young and Mr Geeves responded in an "abrupt" tone that she didn't.

At one point, Mr Geeves took off his flannelette shirt and gave it to Mrs Geeves.

"He put the shirt up over the baby so the baby's head wouldn't get wet [as it was raining]," Mr Arber said.

He said Mr Geeves later changed the baby's nappy.

"[While] he was changing the baby dad and I were standing at the car looking at the repair job," Mr Arber said.

He also took note of two big striped bags made of tarpaulin that were "choc-a-bloc" sitting on the back seat when Mrs Geeves opened the car door to go and get the baby changed.

He said the four-seater Suzuki had a solid roof and a spare tyre on the back, however could not recall if it was a two-door or four-door vehicle.

The meeting lasted about 45 minutes to an hour, the court heard.

When the Geeveses, Ms Haigh and the baby hopped in the car to leave, Mr Arber noted Mr Geeves was driving, with Mrs Geeves and the baby in the front and Ms Haigh seated in the back on the right.

Mr Arber said the four drove off away from Boorowa - heading in the direction of Harden and Sydney.

He said the Geeveses would have had to head a different direction to go to Boorowa given the side of town they lived.

Mr Arber recalled it was "getting cold and dark" when the Geeveses left and understood "they were going to Sydney" and the road they took was the "only way you can go" to get there.

Some time later, Mr Arber and his father drove into Boorowa to buy fish and chips for dinner from the main street.

After that they pulled into the town's Mobil service station to buy two bottles of Coke when he spotted Mr Geeves filling the car they had brought to the property with petrol.

Mr Geeves stopped putting petrol in the car when they arrived, the court heard.

Mr Arber went into the service station shop to get the drinks, and on walking out he recalled seeing Mrs Geeves had the "baby in her arms".

He also saw the passenger door was open and observed a "mountain of clothes" was now where he had seen Ms Haigh enter the car earlier that day.

He also noticed the two tarpaulin bags "didn't appear to be in the same state as before ... [and] were pushed up higher to the roof".

Mr Arber said he couldn't see Ms Haigh in the car - and that she was not in the shop when he went in.

On coming out of the shop, he saw his father and Mr Geeves walking towards each other.

Crown prosecutor Paul Kerr asked if Mr Geeves had been walking towards his father to prevent him from getting to the Geeveses' car, however Mr Arber denied this.

On the way home from the petrol station, Mr Arber's father said it was a "weird" incident, the court heard.

Mr Arber said it was then things "sort of came together" that Mr Geeves was the baby's father.

He also noted his surprise at seeing the Geeveses again so soon, given their announced travel plans to Sydney.

"We were so surprised [because] ... when they left Grandma's place they said they were going up north to Sydney," Mr Arber said.

"But then when ... they left we got some tucker from the fish and chip shop and we went to the fuel station, they were there," he said.

Mr Arber said "there was just no time" for them to travel to Sydney and back.

He also recalled asking his father "Where is the young girl?".

The court then heard it wasn't until almost two decades later that Mr Arber came across a police notice about Amber Haigh's disappearance and connected the dots to the incident with the Geeveses in 2002.

He reported the matter to police in August 2021, however under cross-examination by defence barrister Michael King, it became clear his account of events has not always remained the same.

"It was a long time ago, we're not talking about last year, we're talking about 22 years ago," he said.

On Wednesday, Mr Arber told the court there were still "little things" in his police statement that needed correcting.

He said one of these was that his statement indicated his first year in high school was 2002, which was wrong.

Mr Arber also appeared somewhat unsure as to whether the colour of the Suzuki was canary yellow or some other colour.

When asked if he knew anything about the "criminal history" of Mr Geeves, Mr Arber said he didn't, but on cross-examination revealed he had read articles that talked about incidents including when he "shot a girl in the face [and] put her in a wheelbarrow".

When he read the articles, he recalled thinking it was "crazy".

"I couldn't believe it, it was full on," Mr Arber told the court.

"That's why I called Crime Stoppers."

Despite this, Mr Arber said the times he had met Mr Geeves back in 2000 and 2002, he "just seemed like a normal bloke living out in the bush".

However, he said he "didn't seem normal" any more after reading those articles, and while he himself denied being fearful of the man, he raised concerns Mr Geeves could cause harm to his parents.

Under questioning by Mr King, Mr Arber also admitted he asked to speak to the lead investigator in the Amber Haigh investigation because he was worried Mr Geeves might know someone in the police and that he might have "friends in high places".

The Crown has alleged Mr and Mrs Geeves used Ms Haigh as a surrogate mother and then killed her to gain custody of her child.

The court has previously heard Ms Haigh and her baby were inseparable.

The cross-examination of Mr Arber will resume on Thursday, when the judge-alone trial continues.