Latest news with #Khandallah
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
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.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
Julia DeLuney accused of murdering her mother, struggled with alcohol and financial difficulties
Julia DeLuney is on trial for the murder of her 79-year-old mother. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Witnesses have painted a picture of complicated relationships, financial difficulties and alcoholism, as the trial of Julia DeLuney, charged with killing her mother, continues. Helen Gregory, aged 79, died at her Khandallah home in January 2024. 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. The jury was told DeLuney had been a teacher, but had not worked as one for the past 15 years. Instead, she traded cryptocurrency, and was in some financial difficulty. She also struggled with alcoholism - although she had been mostly sober for the past 12 years. Her relationship with her mother was described by one witness as "complicated". Gregory was painted as a woman in good health, but the court heard she had previously had some falls. The Crown's first witness, whose identity was suppressed, said Gregory had three falls they were aware of prior to her death, with one in September 2023 ending in her being admitted to hospital. They also told the court Gregory mistrusted banks, preferring to keep thousands of dollars stashed around the house - including a bag of $50 and $100 notes in the freezer. Police at Helen Gregory's home after her death. Photo: RNZ / Hamish Cardwell On one occasion, DeLuney took one of those stashes of money and told her mother she had invested it on her behalf. Then, days before the death, she told her mother her account had made a profit and she needed a further $15,000 to be able to transfer it. Her mother gave her the money, but the Crown said she appeared to have used it to pay bills. DeLuney's relationship with alcohol also came under the spotlight, with another witness testifying that although DeLuney had been sober for more than a decade, she had suffered a brief relapse after her mother's fall in September. The witness said DeLuney and Gregory had a complicated relationship, but there was no animosity between them. They said DeLuney had appeared depressed in the weeks prior to Gregory's death and had in one conversation between them, expressed regret that at age 52 she would never own a home again, and had nothing saved for her retirement. But defence lawyer Quentin Duff told the jury to question the idea that an evening which began with ballet tickets could have ended in murder, saying the police investigation had failed to consider that someone else might have killed Gregory. Defence lawyer Quentin Duff suggested someone else may have killed Helen Gregory. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii He said later evidence would show Gregory's phone ascending one floor into the attic at 9.30pm, after DeLuney had left, and police had missed the presence of a white car coming and going around the same time. On top of that, a neighbour told police someone had knocked on their door between 9.30pm and 10.30pm, and when they opened it, there was nobody there. He argued it was possible Gregory could have "opened that door and met her death". The trial before Justice Peter Churchman was expected to take four to five weeks, with the Crown set to call more than 80 more witnesses. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
