Latest news with #Crown
1News
an hour ago
- Business
- 1News
Woman accused of murdering mum spent $155k on crypto in a year
The Crown says murder-accused Julia DeLuney used money from her mother to pay off credit card debt and invest further in cryptocurrency. DeLuney is on trial for the murder of her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory, who died at her home in the Wellington suburb of Khandallah in January last year, a crime which she denies. Two days before her mother's death, DeLuney sent her an email saying a sum of money she had invested six months ago on her mother's behalf had made a large profit - more than $268,000 - and she recommended they cash out. She said in order to do that, she needed $30,000 for withdrawal fees and tax liability, and asked her mother to cover half. The court heard on Monday from a cryptocurrency expert that those fees were "totally false," and a common scam. ADVERTISEMENT Helen Gregory. (Source: The court also heard DeLuney used a screenshot of someone else's crypto account to show her mother a graph of her profits. But her mother set about finding $15,000. She had $6000 in cash, which the Crown heard from a bank teller she deposited into her daughter's account on January 23. Then, the court was played a phone call between Gregory and her bank in which she withdrew more from her Kiwisaver, sending a further $9000 to DeLuney's bank account. Those payments appear on DeLuney's statement with the reference: JULIAFROMMUM. Then, her bank statements show she used that money to pay off credit card debt, buy a Lotto ticket, make payments to Sky TV, Afterpay and Mitre 10, and invested about $2000 in cryptocurrency. Financial analyst Eric Huang told the court his analysis of DeLuney's financial records, excluding cash deposits, showed she had spent more than she earned in the year before her mother's death, the High Court heard on Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT Huang told the court records showed that between January 1, 2023 and January 25, 2024 - the day after her mother's death - she spent more than $155,000 on cryptocurrency investments. That totalled 47% of her income. Huang said in that same period, she received more than $92,000 from friends and family, primarily her mother and father. Her earnings from cryptocurrency, at least the ones which passed through her bank accounts, were outweighed by her investments; by January 2024, she was $68,000 in the red. Huang said his analysis had shown she spent a "significant amount" on Afterpay purchases, totalling $39,000, on travel and accommodation, totalling $5736, and on personal beauty services like hair and nails, totalling $4339. She did not meet her minimum repayments on her credit card three months out of 12. The Crown said DeLuney attacked her mother before staging it to look like she had fallen from the attic, a crime which was potentially financially motivated. But the defence claims someone else caused those injuries in the 90 minutes in which she had gone to get help. The trial is expected to continue into next week.
NZ Herald
3 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Hori Gage's partner describes moment he was gunned down outside his home in Palmerston North
It's the Crown's case that Gage was killed in retaliation for a violent gang brawl that happened two days earlier, when a local Black Power president was stabbed and had his patch taken off him by members of the Mongrel Mob. Gage, a Mongrel Mob member from a different chapter, hadn't been at that brawl and was gunned down while he sat in his car outside his home with his family. Hori Gage, 27, was fatally shot in front of his family in Palmerston North on August 6. Photo / NZ Police The Crown says it was Robert Richards and Royden Haenga who had gone out looking for rival gang members to kill in retribution for the attack on the local Black Power president. Haenga admits to being at the scene but says he didn't intend to kill Gage, while Roberts denies being there at all. 'Honestly mate, I wasn't there' In the police interview, the key Crown witness, who was known to Haenga, initially denied any involvement with the homicide or being at a Black Power address known as 'The Farm' where members of the gang had been congregating before Gage was killed. The man was then shown cellphone polling data that placed his and Haenga's phone at The Farm at the same time, despite him claiming he was somewhere else and had spent the day with family. He was also shown text messages from his partner to another person one minute before Gage was killed, saying that he wasn't with her and that he was with Haenga. However, in the interview the man claims he wasn't at The Farm and hadn't been at the Black Power meeting. Robert Richards and Royden Haenga appeared at the High Court in Palmerston North for the start of a four-week trial. Photo / Jeremy Wilkinson He was then played audio from CCTV on Croyden Ave in Palmerston North where the shooting took place. The CCTV did not show the shooting but recorded the gunshots and the aftermath. Gage's partner and children can be heard screaming before a white Nissan passes in front of the camera. It's part of the Crown's case that this car belongs to Haenga. After this, the man changed his story and admitted to being at The Farm. 'Honestly mate, I wasn't there [at the scene of the crime],' the man said. 'I wasn't there, I stayed at The Farm.' He was shown photos of gang members police believed were at The Farm on August 6, but said he was not a Black Power associate and did not know many of the people there, especially because they were wearing balaclavas. The man, who is not a current gang member, said the people at the address were told to take their patches off before leaving. The rest of his evidential interview will be played to the jury tomorrow. 'My partner just got shot' Earlier today, an interview with Gage's partner, Amethyst Tukaki, was played to the court. It was filmed just hours after Gage had been killed. Tukaki told police their car battery had gone flat and they were waiting for a jump start from her mother at their home on Croyden Ave, with three of their children in the back seat. As she and Gage climbed back into the car she told police she heard a 'tick, tick, tick' sound. Hori Gage was killed in a shooting on August 6, 2023, in Palmerston North. Photo / Facebook 'I thought someone was throwing stones, then I seen someone by my partner, by the door,' she said. Tukaki told police that she got out of the car and saw a man holding a gun. She later described him as wearing a balaclava and being tall and skinny. The man then got back into a waiting car, which drove off, she said. 'The street was so quiet,' Tukaki said, before approaching a neighbour, telling him 'my partner just got shot', while also on the phone to police. Operation London It would be six months before police arrested anyone in relation to Gage's murder and the officer who was second in charge of what was labelled Operation London, Detective Sergeant Dave Wilson, told the court police were concerned about escalating gang tensions after the assault of a local Black Power president at a bar on Castle St on August 4. That president suffered serious injuries, including a partially severed finger, multiple cuts to his scalp and two collapsed lungs. The court was shown CCTV footage of him arriving at Palmerston North Hospital after the incident, where he can be seen hunched over with his hands on his knees before falling on all fours in the hospital entryway. The senior Black Power member was assaulted by two Mongrel Mob associates, who also took his gang patch off him in what's known as a 'depatching'. After this, Wilson said multiple Black Power gang members travelled from Hawke's Bay to Palmerston North and were observed congregating at several addresses in the city. A white Nissan allegedly belonging to Haenga was seen on CCTV around the city, including turning up at a motel where members of the Mongrel Mob were staying. The same car was also photographed at The Farm and in a harrowing video played to the court, it can be seen leaving the scene where Gage was shot. The same car then turns back up at The Farm. Wilson told the court the same car was set on fire and dumped near The Farm and three Black Power members were charged and pleaded guilty to arson. The jury was shown images of the scene where Gage died, and Wilson described how bullet casings were found on the street and bullet fragments inside Gage's car. Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū, covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.
The Age
7 hours ago
- The Age
‘Mum, it's bad': Accused killer's ‘out of the ordinary' phone call
At 2pm on January 16, Tsiliris said she answered a call from Sultana who repeatedly said 'It's bad', to which she asked, 'What's bad?' 'I had no idea what he meant, but I could tell it was out of the ordinary in terms of his behaviour and how he was talking,' her statement read. As she met her son on Lethbridge Street in Penrith, he turned up in Isaac's car and kept saying: 'It's bad.' 'I didn't know what to take from that,' she told police. 'I thought, 'What's bad?' I thought maybe she didn't get the job or something.' She said Sultana parked in Isaac's car park and took her into her apartment, where she saw blood in the entryway and a 'pressure mark' on the wall. Tsiliris told police she looked towards Isaac's bedroom and saw her lying on her back with blood on her face. In shock, she ran out of the unit, yelling 'I'm gone, I'm out of here', saying she was too traumatised to check on Isaac. Instead, she went to the police station to make a report. Also tendered to the judge-alone trial were the statements of Isaac's parents, Garry and Deborah English. They both described instances where Isaac told them Sultana and her were only friends and he wanted more, but she did not. Deborah said she saw Isaac and Sultana at Isaac's unit the day before she was killed. 'During the day Dayna told me that she did not want a relationship and that Paul was moving his stuff into her unit and she did not want that as it felt like she was in a relationship,' her statement read. Meanwhile, Garry described a heated argument on Christmas Day in 2022 in which Sultana told him how much he cared for Isaac and how he could 'give her the world and treat her like a lady'. 'I said, 'Paul, she likes you as a friend, you have to accept that',' Garry wrote. 'He got in my face and told me that I have to tell Dayna that he was good for her.' During opening addresses on Monday, Crown prosecutor Yvette Prowse said the trial would hear testimonies of three women – including two former intimate partners – suggesting a pattern of physical and verbal violence when Sultana believed relationships were crumbling or felt rejected, saying their similar experiences were 'not a coincidence'. Loading Sultana's barrister Gregory Woods KC told the court his client did not kill Isaac, the Crown's case was largely circumstantial and there were no eyewitnesses to the murder. He said Deborah's police report did not state her son had committed murder and that Sultana's decision to burn her car and belongings stemmed from 'panic' rather than guilt. He said his actions were consistent 'with a man who believed that he might be blamed in these circumstances because he had previously been accused of bad behaviour by ex-girlfriends'. The court heard Isaac died of strangulation, had blunt-force injuries to her face and body and was found with two cords around her neck. Tuesday's evidence began with testimonies from a forensic pathologist and the lead crime scene investigator. The trial continues.
The Age
8 hours ago
- The Age
Lawyers for alleged murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon suddenly quit
The second legal team for alleged double murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon has sensationally stood down from representing the former police officer after 'an issue arose' the day before his latest court appearance. Lamarre-Condon, 29, has spent more than a year in prison after allegedly using his service-issued Glock pistol to shoot former partner Jesse Baird, a television presenter with whom he had allegedly become fixated, and Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies, inside a Paddington terrace in February 2024. His publicly funded lawyer Alexander Terracini was appointed in November last year, when Lamarre-Condon parted ways with his solicitor John Walford. On Tuesday, Terracini told the Downing Centre Local Court that he and the rest of Lamarre-Condon's legal team sought leave to withdraw from representing him after 'an issue arose yesterday'. That leave was granted, and Sydney lawyer Ben Archbold was appointed his replacement as members of Baird and Davies' families watched on via video link. Loading The court was not told what the issue was, which Magistrate Christopher Halburd noted was 'appropriate'. The new legal team led Halburd to allow a six-week adjournment despite the Crown's objections. 'Negotiations have been ongoing for now many, many months; there's been [two] case conferences,' prosecutor Brendan Donnelly said.
Sydney Morning Herald
8 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Lawyers for alleged murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon suddenly quit
The second legal team for alleged double murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon has sensationally stood down from representing the former police officer after 'an issue arose' the day before his latest court appearance. Lamarre-Condon, 29, has spent more than a year in prison after allegedly using his service-issued Glock pistol to shoot former partner Jesse Baird, a television presenter with whom he had allegedly become fixated, and Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies, inside a Paddington terrace in February 2024. His publicly funded lawyer Alexander Terracini was appointed in November last year, when Lamarre-Condon parted ways with his solicitor John Walford. On Tuesday, Terracini told the Downing Centre Local Court that he and the rest of Lamarre-Condon's legal team sought leave to withdraw from representing him after 'an issue arose yesterday'. That leave was granted, and Sydney lawyer Ben Archbold was appointed his replacement as members of Baird and Davies' families watched on via video link. Loading The court was not told what the issue was, which Magistrate Christopher Halburd noted was 'appropriate'. The new legal team led Halburd to allow a six-week adjournment despite the Crown's objections. 'Negotiations have been ongoing for now many, many months; there's been [two] case conferences,' prosecutor Brendan Donnelly said.
