Lover died 'with bulldog clips on nipples'

A man died in a bondage session after his partner bound and gagged him at their Sunshine Coast home then left to take a shower, a court has been told. Jean Margaret Meiers, 58, yesterday faced the Supreme Court in Brisbane, Australia and pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Geoffrey Braunack, 47, on November 1, 2004.

She is accused of failing in her duty of care after taping the mouth of her de facto husband and using rope, tape and a dog chain to tie him to a concrete post on their Beerburrum patio. The court was told Meiers left her tied-up partner to take a shower and when she returned he was not moving.

Meiers put bulldog clips on Mr Braunack's nipples and slapped his face to try to wake him before she cut him down and called an ambulance, the court was told. Paramedics were unable to revive Mr Braunack, who died from asphyxia.

Senior Constable Joanne Moore told the court she arrived at the couple's home just after the paramedics to find Meiers screaming on the phone. Sen Const Moore said Meiers was yelling: "I killed him, he's f...ing dead, he's dead" and "I told the f...ing idiot he wouldn't get out of this one".

Meiers became hysterical when she was told her partner had died, Sen Const Moore said. She said Meiers had told her that Mr Braunack had badgered her for hours to tie him "like she used to" but that she had never liked playing her partner's sex games.

Defence counsel Peter Goodwin told the court it was "bondage gone wrong". "There was nothing to suggest he was forced into a position and bound," he said. The trial is expected to run until Thursday.