THE NSW Hunter Valley man who was the last person to see Jayden Penno-Tompsett alive told an inquest he cleaned his car in Cairns and tried to sell it.
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Lucas Tattersall, of Newcastle, said he didn't want to drive back to Newcastle alone, so cleaned and vaccuumed the car in an attempt to sell his Nissan Pulsar at a car yard in Cairns.
Mr Tattersall, who was travelling with Jayden to a New Year's Eve party in Cairns in December 2017, said the drive up to Queensland "kinda scared the shit out of me" and he didn't want to drive home alone.
"That drive was so scary on the way up," he said.
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A Cairns-base inquest into Jayden's mysterious disappearance outside the remote Far North Queensland town of Charters Towers heard the men ran over a dead kangaroo before Jayden went missing on January 31.
Mr Tattersall said by the time he got to Cairns the car stunk of "burnt oil" and dead kangaroo.
"It was revolting, the smell," he said.
"I tried to sell the car at a caryard, I didn't want to drive home alone."
The court heard he was hoping to get enough money for an airfare back to Newcastle, but couldn't sell the car because it was registered in NSW.
In a third day of revelations, Mr Tattersal also admitted that he had previously threatened Jayden over a drug debt.
He said a "fair while" before the Cairns trip Jayden bought drugs from him and didn't pay.
He told the court "no-one ever got hurt or touched".
"I told my mate and he threatened Jayden," he said. "There was no follow through, we sorted it out and Jayden gave me the money a few days later. It resolved itself."
Queensland Coroner Nerida Wilson is tasked with determining whether Jayden is dead, and if so, when and how he died.
The inquest continues.
