James Hepi

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James Tahi Hepi is a convicted drug smuggler who is reported to have transported amphetamines and marijuana across Australia between the years 2000 and 2002 with his business partner Bradley John Murdoch.

In 2002, James Hepi was charged with drug smuggling. James Hepi was found guilty of these charges, but was handed down a suspended sentence only, as a result of information he provided to the police with regard to the Peter Falconio disappearance.

In 2003, when Bradley John Murdoch was charged with the murder of Peter Falconio, James Hepi had already provided a statement to police with regard to Bradley John Murdoch. His remarks included; that Murdoch carried a handgun with him during trips, that Murdoch had discussed the best place to bury a body with Hepi, and that Hepi had previously observed Murdoch making what appeared to be handcuffs out of cable/zip ties.

When Bradley John Murdoch was first charged by police, he told his mother, family members and friends that James Hepi was trying to frame him for the murder in retaliation for his "dobbing in" Hepi for drug smuggling.

During the Falconio murder trial, Chief Justice Brian Ross Martin adjudged that James Hepi's evidence was unreliable and ordered the jury to ignore his evidence on the basis that he was an unreliable witness, and "may be acting out of malice".

Bradley John Murdoch's defence team have subsequently argued heavily that James Hepi had both motive and opportunity to frame Murdoch for the murder, and this has become the defence team's primary defence. They have argued that Hepi approached police in 2002 immediately after his arrest on charges of drug smuggling, and offered to provide information regarding Murdoch's activities during July 2001 in return for leniency.

Defence lawyer Grant Algie suggested during Murdoch's trial that James Hepi gathered cigarette butts smoked by Murdoch and gave these to police so that they could extract DNA from them in order to frame Murdoch for the murders.^{[citation needed]}

Detective Senior Constable Paula Dooley McDonnell had interviewed Murdoch's former drug-running partner, James Hepi in Broome in late-2002 and during the course of the conversation he said Hepi mentioned that he'd obtained several cigarette butts smoked by Murdoch at his, James Hepi's, property in South Australia. She agreed that he had planned to send them to allow police to extract DNA from them, however she denied receiving them. [1]

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