Amber Haigh's nurse tells trial of 'alarm' at hearing Geeves' background

Early childhood nurse Susan Powell returned to the witness stand in the trial of Mr Geeves and his wife Anne Margaret Geeves in the Wagga Supreme Court on Thursday, to complete her evidence over the alleged murder of Ms Haigh in early June 2002.

The Geeveses took Ms Haigh to Campbelltown train station on June 5, 2002, to see her dying father, Mr Geeves told police in a statement later that month after her disappearance.

The crown is alleging Mr and Mrs Geeves used Ms Haigh as a surrogate mother then killed the teen, who was 19-years-old at the time, to get custody of her child.

Ms Powell, who worked at the Young Community Health Centre (CHC) met up numerous times with Ms Haigh after she gave birth to a son fathered by Mr Geeves in January 2002, the court heard.

Under cross-examination by defence barrister Michael King, Ms Powell said soon after she took on Ms Haigh's case, she became aware of an incident where a then-partner of Mr Geeves was shot in 1993.

She told the court she recalled hearing "something to that effect" from her colleagues.

"That alarmed me," Ms Powell said.

A Harden police officer also told her Mr Geeves had a "big police file" and that the Geeves place was a "pigsty", during a conversation in early February 2002.

Ms Powell was also asked about a discussion she had with Ms Haigh about the custody of her son.

About this time, Ms Haigh spoke with Ms Powell and her colleague Katrina Richens about the custody of her son and said she "didn't understand what custody meant", the court has heard.

According to a statement read in court, Ms Powell told her "if Robert got custody she would lose the right" to her son.

"Amber said she didn't want Robert and Anne to have custody of the baby," the statement read.

In court on Thursday, Ms Powell said she was trying to explain to Ms Haigh she had the right to custody of her child as did Mr Geeves.

The court heard Ms Powell and her colleague were both "trying to simplify" their explanation of custody.

However, Mr King suggested Ms Haigh must have been "horrified" to think she might lose custody of her child.

Ms Powell said the young mum was not "horrified" but agreed after that discussion she didn't want the Geeveses to have custody of the baby.

Mavis Forrester (nee Yardley) also took the witness stand, revealing Ms Haigh planned to break off her relationship with Mr Geeves mid-way through her pregnancy with their son.

About five years older than Ms Haigh, Ms Forrester said they met at a birthday party while the teen was pregnant with her son.

Ms Forrester said the teen would purchase items from the home care catalogue she managed, and the pair became friends.

The Wagga court heard Ms Haigh's reading was not "quite up to standard" and that she "always" got Ms Forrester to "fill out forms".

However, Ms Forrester recalled the teen was putting together a letter of some significance, about mid-way through her pregnancy in late 2001.

"Amber was trying to write a letter out of cut out magazine words," Ms Forrester told the court.

"She told me it was for Robert but I couldn't understand what it said.

"She said she was writing him a letter to tell him it was over, that she didn't want them to be together again."

A third witness, Keli Wood also took the stand on Thursday, recounting a conversation with Ms Haigh about the custody of her son when they met at the Queen Elizabeth II Family Centre in Canberra in March 2002.

The pair were both first time mums with babies and Ms Wood recalled she and the other mothers staying at the QEII at that time spoke openly about personal matters together.

Ms Haigh said her child was fathered by a married man and that she lived with the couple, Ms Wood recalled, however she couldn't recall the teen telling her the couple's names.

"It was obviously a strange situation so we asked lots of different questions," Ms Wood told the court.

"One of them was why she was living with them.

"She said she felt if she wasn't living with them she felt she would lose custody of her baby."