Latest news with #HelenGregory
RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
Khandallah murder crime scene 'very confronting', says detective
Julia DeLuney in the High Court Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Warning: This story contains graphic details. The jury in the DeLuney murder trial has been shown pictures of the broken-off tip of a fake nail - bright orange - next to the body of 79-year-old Helen Gregory. Her daughter Julia DeLuney is on trial, accused of her murder, after she was found dead at her Khandallah home in January 2024. This week, detectives gave evidence about the bloody crime scene, clumps of hair and scalp on the floor in the hall and by the body, and about how they began to treat the death as suspicious , rather than an accident. The Crown says DeLuney murdered her mother in a violent attack, before staging it to look like a fall from the attic. But the defence says another person caused those fatal injuries, in the 90-minute window in which DeLuney says she left her mother - at this point only minorly injured from a fall from the attic - on the floor of a bedroom, to fetch her husband from Kāpiti to help. A detective giving evidence said it was when she saw clumps of hair amongst the blood around the body that her mind shifted from thinking of the death as "unexplained" to "suspicious". Also found beside the body was the tip of an orange false nail. Other pictures show bloody handprints and streak marks along the walls of the hallway and the entrance to the attic, as well as on the wall at the back of that cupboard, and on various items around the house - the bed in the bedroom where Gregory was found, a mug in the kitchen, and bloody footprints on the kitchen floor. Detective Constable Kristina O'Connor said on the stand, the gravity of the situation was not lost on her. "Naturally, it's a very confronting view," she said. "I guess in my profession, you're matter-of-fact, and as you're doing it, you do it, it's very much a job, but it doesn't pass me, the gravity of - and especially looking back - the gravity of what I was standing there looking at." Forensic experts were yet to weigh in on the evidence, but the trial was set down for another three weeks at least. The house was checked top to bottom - every magazine page, every cup in every cupboard, every object itemised. O'Connor said she discovered Gregory - like many older people - kept plastic bags inside more plastic bags in the kitchen, and everything in her house was very neat and ordered. Meanwhile, the defence was also building its case around the possibility another person was involved. Lawyer Quentin Duff, cross-examining Detective Sergeant Guilia Boffa, put to her that the police never really considered someone else for the crime. The court had already heard a neighbour reported a doorknock with nobody there on the night of Gregory's death, around the same time that evening. He said there had also been a suspicious male reported by an off-duty officer at a nearby park the following day. But Boffa said their task at that point was to figure out what happened in that house, with manslaughter in mind. "We're suspecting that that's what's occurred, and we are using emergency powers to gather information to support a charge to be laid," she said. "And would you agree with me that, to the best of your knowledge, the investigation didn't ever seriously contemplate the idea that there might have been a burglar that had killed Mrs Gregory?" she was asked. "That is absolutely incorrect," Boffa replied. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Helen Gregory murder trial: Why police didn't buy Julia DeLuney's accident claim
Julia DeLuney in the High Court. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii A detective giving evidence in the DeLuney trial says inconsistencies in the accused's story led police had to investigate the death as a manslaughter, rather than an accident. Julia DeLuney is accused of murdering her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory, and the trial, expected to take at least four weeks, is in its fourth day. The Crown's case is that DeLuney violently attacked her mother on the evening of 24 January 2024, at Gregory's home in Khandallah. But the defence claims Gregory fell from the attic, and while DeLuney left her in a bedroom to drive back to her Kāpiti home to collect her husband Antonio DeLuney to help - as her mother didn't like hospitals - a third person caused those fatal injuries. The defence's case is that police investigation developed "tunnel vision" in its pursuit of DeLuney, and it failed to properly investigate other options. Under cross examination by defence lawyer Quentin Duff, Detective Sergeant Guilia Boffa said police were told Gregory'd had a fall, but things didn't add up. "And there was information that was important that was missing from the accounts that were being provided around changing clothing and a number of areas travelled to that we were picking up that we were not being told about." Namely, she stopped at a petrol station and, the Crown asserts, changed clothes a number of times that evening. Detective Constable Kristina O'Connor, under cross examination for the second time after previously guiding the jury through a virtual walk-through of the address, began telling the court about her methodical search of the property for disturbances in the greenery or objects out of place. Her evidence continues this afternoon. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Helen Gregory murder trial: How the investigation shifted away from accidental death
Julia DeLuney in the High Court. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Details of how the police investigation into the death of Helen Gregory began to shift from accidental death to murder have been revealed to a jury. Julia DeLuney is accused of murdering her 79-year-old mother Helen Gregory at her Khandallah home in January 2024. She has pleaded not guilty to the charge. One detective told the High Court at Wellington on Wednesday that he locked down the scene when he saw the amount of blood around the house. Under cross examination by defence lawyer Quentin Duff, detective Luke Hensley said when he was called in, the death was not being treated as suspicious. But he said the blood around the house struck him as strange - as did the fact DeLuney had left her mother on the bedroom floor after her fall from the attic, to drive back to Kāpiti to pick up her husband, rather than calling an ambulance. In DeLuney's initial statement to police as a witness, she explained her mother did not like hospitals. When she and Antonio DeLuney returned, there was far more blood than before. The Crown's case is that DeLuney attacked her mother, and then staged it to look like a fall, but the defence's case is that while she was gone, a third person caused those fatal injuries. The DeLuney's gave their statements in the early hours of the morning, at the Johnsonville Police Station. But Julia DeLuney's status as a witness would change in the coming days. On Wednesday afternoon, Detective Sergeant Guilia Boffa told the court about her notes from the time, regarding the results of the post-mortem - something experts are expected go into in more detail in the coming days. "There were seven to nine lacerations on the scalp, and that there were defensive wounds, three skull fractures, two separate impacts, and that there was a brain bleed to the front and back, bruising, blunt force trauma, that was not consistent with a fall." Meanwhile, other information was coming to light. DeLuney had changed her clothing multiple times over the course of the evening, observed in different outfits by ambulance officers and on CCTV. Police also discovered there were previous protection orders against DeLuney and record of a gambling problem dating back to 2015. In the following days, police sought a search warrant under the offence of manslaughter. But during cross examination, Duff for the defence asked Boffa whether she recalled a neighbour approaching a scene guard in the days following the death, to say someone had knocked on their door that same night, between 9.30 and 10pm. On reviewing her notebook, Boffa confirmed she was aware of that happening. Earlier in the week Duff accused the police investigation of tunnel vision when it came to pursuing the case against DeLuney, and failing to properly investigate whether a third person could have done it. The trial continues today. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Detective tells court of 'unusual' actions by murder-accused Julia DeLuney
Julia DeLuney at Wellington High Court. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii A detective who was among first responders to 79-year-old Helen Gregory's death has told the court he thought it was strange that her daughter, Julia DeLuney, chose to drive back to Kāpiti and get her husband instead of calling an ambulance. The trial before a judge and jury at the High Court in Wellington is set down for four to five weeks, and on Wednesday entered its third day. The Crown's case is that DeLuney violently attacked her mother on the evening of 24 January last year, possibly using a vase that was missing off one of the bedside tables, and staged it as a fall from the attic. DeLuney dealt in crypto currency and appeared to be in some financial trouble. However, the defence has asked the jury not to discount the possibility that there was a third person involved, with a neighbour reporting a mysterious knock on their door that same evening. The detective, Luke Hensley, under cross examination by defence lawyer Quentin Duff, said when he was called in the death wasn't being treated as suspicious. But he said the blood around the house struck him as strange - as did the claim from DeLuney that, when she had left her mother on the floor of a bedroom to drive back to Kāpiti to pick up her husband to help, there had been no significant blood. Hensley had eight years' experience at the time, but called a more senior officer to get advice, and they walked through the house on Facetime. In his statement on the night, he wrote they agreed it was "likely some sort of accident, but where the blood was located around the house was strange". They locked the scene down for an examination the next day. Hensley also noted at the time he thought it was "unusual" that DeLuney had driven to Kāpiti to fetch her husband, instead of calling an ambulance. The defence's case is that while she was gone, a third person caused those fatal injuries to her mother. Duff asked Hensley on the witness stand: "Did it ever occur to you that perhaps someone else might have broken into the house and caused those injuries and spread that blood?" Hensley replied: "At the time I believed that getting the statement from Ms DeLuney would cover off a lot of that" and "fill in those blanks". On the night of the death, DeLuney was not yet being treated as a suspect. She and her husband followed police officers in their own car to the Johnsonville police station in the early hours of the morning to give statements. The court heard DeLuney's account for the first time on Wednesday, in the form of her statement given in the early hours of that night in January 2024. Detective Elizabeth Lee, who worked in the Wellington Crime Squad based in Johnsonville, read out the written statement to the court. She was one of the officers who was on the scene, but then took witness statements from the DeLuneys at the police station just after 2am. The statement begins by detailing some recent falls her mother had had in the past two years, both times ending up in hospital. One fall resulted in a concussion and a skull fracture. She said her mother often lost her balance, or felt that she might lose her balance around home. That evening, Julia DeLuney's husband, Antonio DeLuney, had brought the car home from work, and she had driven it to her mother's house on Baroda Street around 6pm. It was her mother's birthday in May, and she and her daughters had thought tickets to the ballet would be a nice present. They sat down at computer and picked out seats. "She was in a good mood," she said in her statement. But her mother was "kind of obsessed" with a shirt she had misplaced and asked for help finding it, going into cupboards and wardrobes. At one point, DeLuney went up into the attic to store some watches. The rungs of the ladder to the attic were built into the wall. "Even I struggle to get up there," DeLuney said. About 8.30pm, Gregory went into a cupboard to search for the shirt again, and knocked over some toilet paper, which she said she wanted to put into the attic. DeLuney said at this point, she was in the kitchen. "All of a sudden, I heard a big crash, and I went over to find that she had fallen." Her mother was "sore everywhere" and holding the top of her head, "crumpled and tangled" against some objects at the base of the attic entrance. She moved her to one of the bedrooms, with her mum saying things like, "I'll be alright". She had a little bit of blood on her hand from holding her head. DeLuney said she couldn't see any open wounds, but it looked like the blood - "not a lot" - was coming from the top of her head. She told her mother she was going to get her husband Antonio to help. "At this stage I didn't think there was anything major going on, and I knew she hated hospitals," she said. She left Gregory lying on the floor, with her feet facing the window. She was "agitated" and trying to get up, but she told her to stay put. Then, she drove 40 minutes home, and found Antonio in bed. She told him her mother had fallen and she needed him to come with her to check on her. It took another 40 minutes to get back to the house, and when they entered, they ran into the bedroom and "freaked out" because "it looked like a warzone" with blood in lots of different places. She said none of that blood was there when she left, "so I got a hell of a shock". The trial continues, and is set down for four to five weeks.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
Jury shown bloody scene as woman stands trial for mum's murder
Julia DeLuney is on trial for the murder of her 79-year-old mother. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Warning: This story contains graphic details Photos of blood smeared over the hallway walls and pooling on the mattress and floor have been shown to the jury as the trial of Julia DeLuney, charged with killing her mother, continues. Helen Gregory, aged 79, died at her Khandallah home in January 2024. DeLuney has pleaded not guilty to her murder. The Crown's case is that DeLuney, who first appeared in front of a judge and jury in the High Court in Wellington on Monday, attacked her mother, then staged the scene to make it look like she had suffered a fall from the attic. Paramedics were the first on the scene. Paramedic Andrew Cope told the jury this morning that paramedics had initially tried to resuscitate Gregory after observing facial injuries, but after checking for further injuries they had discovered a large open head fracture on the back of her head. Cope said at this point they stopped resuscitation. "Her injuries were incompatible with life," he said. Cope said there was also a significant amount of blood on the floor. The paramedics had been told that Gregory had fallen from the attic, where a photograph also showed blood smeared across the door frame and inside the cupboard. Cope said items had also fallen over and were sprawling out of the cupboard below the attic. Jurors were taken on an in-depth tour of Gregory's home through police scene photographs - taken after they had completed their scene examination - which utilized 360 degree camera technology. The Baroda Street house is single-storey three bedroom home. Detective Constable Kristina O'Connor from the Wellington Police told the court the home was tidy and organised. The trial is in its second day in the High Court in Wellington, and is expected to take four to five weeks. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
