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'Loving relationship': Defence denies DeLuney fell out with mother

'Loving relationship': Defence denies DeLuney fell out with mother

1News7 days ago
Julia DeLuney's defence says there's no evidence of a breakdown in the relationship between her and her mother, Helen Gregory, that would explain a murder.
DeLuney is on trial at the High Court in Wellington charged with murdering the 79-year-old at her Khandallah home in January 2024, which she denies.
The Crown finished its closing argument on Friday, arguing DeLuney had been stealing cash from her mother and then violently attacked her, leaving her dead or dying, perhaps following a confrontation about money.
But defence lawyer Quentin Duff said there was no evidence of a breakdown in the relationship between DeLuney and her mother.
There was only evidence, he said, of "an ordinary and loving relationship, albeit with its own problems".
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He asked the jury not to accept that they were being asked to decide that DeLuney had killed her mother, without knowing why.
He argued the police investigation had failed to consider other suspects - by 7 February, it had narrowed down to DeLuney only.
Helen Gregory. (Source: rnz.co.nz)
"Of course she should have been a suspect," Duff said. "In none of our cross examination have we criticised that."
But he said there should have been two others - the first, a mysterious person who knocked on the door of a house further up the street that same night but left before the homeowner answered.
The second was someone who left a coffee cup in a pot plant at Gregory's address, which Duff said was never investigated, and should have been.
The Crown argued on Friday it was DeLuney who took that money, and she who put the idea of the handyman being the culprit in her mother's head.
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Duff drew the jury's attention to the "myth" of the attic fall, which had "perpetuated itself right throughout the way of this investigation, through to this trial".
He said DeLuney had told them about the fall, but had never claimed that had been the cause of death - rather, the police had latched onto that, and worked to disprove it.
"They were hellbent, you might think, on disproving and exposing Ms DeLuney for being a liar."
He also accused the police of inserting themselves into the story, to make judgement calls on what DeLuney had done.
But he said DeLuney's decisions made sense when you considered what we had heard about the people involved.
The court heard that, on a past occasion, Gregory had fallen out of her bed - therefore, it made sense for DeLuney to put her on the floor.
It heard her Gregory hated hospitals, and was scared of being put in a home. On top of that, DeLuney was scared of being blamed for letting her mother climb into the attic in the first place - so it made sense that she didn't call an ambulance.
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And it made sense, Duff said, that DeLuney would leave her mother to fetch her husband, Antonio - if the injury was minor, and all she needed was monitoring overnight, it would be "a load shared" to fetch someone who happened to know CPR, Duff said.
"That's common sense."
The defence's closing argument continues this afternoon.
rnz.co.nz
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Bible verses, crypto trades and grief: Inside Deluny's diaries
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By Kate Green of RNZ Julia DeLuney's diaries, presented as evidence by the Crown during her month-long trial, reveal the highs and lows of cryptocurrency trading, her plans for a Remuera home to retire in, and her grief following the death of her mother. DeLuney was found guilty of murdering Helen Gregory, 79, at the elderly woman's home in Baroda St in Khandallah in January last year. The Crown argued it had been a financially motivated attack, and that DeLuney had been receiving money - or at worst, stealing it - from her mother for at least a year before the murder. Over the course of the trial, her diaries were presented as evidence of her emotional state and financial struggles. They contained little reminders and checklists: "car service, pay credit card $10,000, hair tidy up". But that sat alongside Bible passages, musings about her future, and some existential questions. DeLuney had been a teacher until about 15 years ago. In recent years she had turned her hand to trading cryptocurrency. The court saw photographs of the diary pages, with typed transcriptions alongside. Some entries contained references to FET, WOO, DXY, buying on red days, selling on green days, FOMO of "green candles" (good trades) and speculation about when the US regulating body would approve the first Bitcoin ETF. In early December, she wrote: "Bitcoin hit, $40,000, waiting for FET to break through." Some entries contained Bible passages: "Give back what the locusts have taken away, God, double what he had before! I, Julia, stand for the word of the Lord." The Crown pointed to other entries as a sign she had been struggling mentally - like this one in mid-December: "I need to remember how tough and discouraging these past five-six years have been waiting for such a time as this." As December passed, her diaries begin to reveal a desire to cash out and step back. December 16, 2023: "Having a healthy pullback today after a big green week.... Yes, I'm desperately impatient to resume my life after six years of staring at charts. It's been a terribly traumatic and challenging period of my life. I need to leave this crypto world behind me soon. Please dear lord." And on the last day of the year, there was a glimpse into her dreams for the future. December 31, 2023: "100x from here and we're out of here! New life begins! Remuera goal for 2024, 10m. Generational family home, pool [...], great kitchen, bathrooms, 4+ bedrooms, beautiful tropical garden." The diaries showed how turbulent cryptocurrency trading could be. One early January day, DeLuney wrote the markets were "waking up" - and the next, "Market crashed. Liquidations everywhere." DeLuney's bank records showed between January 2023 and January 2024, she spent more than $155,000 on crypto-currency investments. Cryptocurrency consultant Nicolas Turnbull gave evidence to help the jury understand some of the jargon, but he said there seemed to be "no real structure" to DeLuney's trading. "There's a lot of emotion in it, where if you're trading, and you're doing this as a job ... in my professional opinion you need structure, you need risk management." And as January wore on, the diaries revealed DeLuney's increasing disillusionment with trading. On January 10, she wrote: "It's been an awful year so far, I'm done. Been trying so hard to crack this but as soon as I think it's in my reach, it gets taken away - again and again. I can't keep doing this, I just want a f***ng home and some financial security in old age. It's obviously not happening. F*** life!" On January 24, DeLuney visited her mother to book tickets to the ballet. Her diary entries that day - likely written before she visited her mother that evening - were Bible passages. "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118.24 And: "For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4.13 Crown prosecutor Stephanie Bishop told the jury in her closing argument they may never know the details of that evening, but "something happened, something changed" - that led to DeLuney violently assaulting her mother. The next entry was on January 26, 2024 - two days after her mother's death: Alongside a to-do list of funeral arrangements, she quoted Romans 8.28: "For all things work together for good to those who love him and that are called according to his purposes" and Matthew 6.33: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all those things shall be added unto you." The funeral took place on February 3 - a "beautiful service". "I'm going to miss you forever my one and only darling, beautiful mum, be at rest and in peace with your Lord and savior Jesus Christ," DeLuney wrote. The court saw diary entries up until February 8: "Dear God, I love and miss mum sooo much, please take care of her. Thank you for blessing me with such a loving, kind and wise mum." The jury took only a day to deliberate, returning their guilty verdict on Wednesday, just before 5pm. DeLuney was remanded in custody, to be sentenced in September.

Julia Deluney's diaries: Bible verses, crypto and future plans
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Julia Deluney's diaries, presented as evidence by the Crown during her month-long trial, reveal the highs and lows of cryptocurrency trading, her plans for a Remuera home to retire in, and her grief following the death of her mother. DeLuney was found guilty of murdering Helen Gregory, 79, at the elderly woman's home in Baroda St in Khandallah in January last year. The Crown argued it had been a financially motivated attack, and that DeLuney had been receiving money - or at worst, stealing it - from her mother for at least a year before the murder. Over the course of the trial, her diaries were presented as evidence of her emotional state and financial struggles. They contained little reminders and checklists: "car service, pay credit card $10,000, hair tidy up". ADVERTISEMENT But that sat alongside Bible passages, musings about her future, and some existential questions. DeLuney had been a teacher until about 15 years ago. In recent years she had turned her hand to trading cryptocurrency. The court saw photographs of the diary pages, with typed transcriptions alongside. Helen Gregory. (Source: Some entries contained references to FET, WOO, DXY, buying on red days, selling on green days, FOMO of "green candles" (good trades) and speculation about when the US regulating body would approve the first Bitcoin ETF. In early December, she wrote: "Bitcoin hit, $40,000, waiting for FET to break through." Some entries contained Bible passages: "Give back what the locusts have taken away, God, double what he had before! I, Julia, stand for the word of the Lord." ADVERTISEMENT The Crown pointed to other entries as a sign she had been struggling mentally - like this one in mid-December: "I need to remember how tough and discouraging these past five-six years have been waiting for such a time as this." As December passed, her diaries begin to reveal a desire to cash out and step back. December 16, 2023: "Having a healthy pullback today after a big green week.... Yes, I'm desperately impatient to resume my life after six years of staring at charts. It's been a terribly traumatic and challenging period of my life. I need to leave this crypto world behind me soon. Please dear lord." And on the last day of the year, there was a glimpse into her dreams for the future. December 31, 2023: "100x from here and we're out of here! New life begins! Remuera goal for 2024, 10m. Generational family home, pool [...], great kitchen, bathrooms, 4+ bedrooms, beautiful tropical garden." The diaries showed how turbulent cryptocurrency trading could be. One early January day, DeLuney wrote the markets were "waking up" - and the next, "Market crashed. Liquidations everywhere." ADVERTISEMENT DeLuney's bank records showed between January 2023 and January 2024, she spent more than $155,000 on crypto-currency investments. 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Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118.24 And: "For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4.13 Crown prosecutor Stephanie Bishop told the jury in her closing argument they may never know the details of that evening, but "something happened, something changed" - that led to DeLuney violently assaulting her mother. The next entry was on January 26, 2024 - two days after her mother's death: Alongside a to-do list of funeral arrangements, she quoted Romans 8.28: "For all things work together for good to those who love him and that are called according to his purposes" and Matthew 6.33: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all those things shall be added unto you." The funeral took place on February 3 - a "beautiful service". "I'm going to miss you forever my one and only darling, beautiful mum, be at rest and in peace with your Lord and savior Jesus Christ," DeLuney wrote. 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They contained little reminders and checklists: 'car service, pay credit card $10,000, hair tidy up'. But that sat alongside Bible passages, musings about her future, and some existential questions. Helen Gregory was killed in her Khandallah home in Wellington in 2024. DeLuney had been a teacher until about 15 years ago. In recent years she had turned her hand to trading cryptocurrency. The court saw photographs of the diary pages, with typed transcriptions alongside. Some entries contained references to FET, WOO, DXY, buying on red days, selling on green days, FOMO of 'green candles' (good trades) and speculation about when the US regulating body would approve the first Bitcoin ETF. In early December, she wrote: 'Bitcoin hit, $40,000, waiting for FET to break through.' Some entries contained Bible passages: 'Give back what the locusts have taken away, God, double what he had before! I, Julia, stand for the word of the Lord.' The Crown pointed to other entries as a sign she had been struggling mentally – like this one in mid-December: 'I need to remember how tough and discouraging these past five-six years have been waiting for such a time as this.' Julia DeLuney was found guilty on Wednesday of murdering her mother, Helen Gregory, 79, in January last year. Photo / Mark Mitchell. As December passed, her diaries begin to reveal a desire to cash out and step back. December 16, 2023: 'Having a healthy pullback today after a big green week.... Yes, I'm desperately impatient to resume my life after six years of staring at charts. It's been a terribly traumatic and challenging period of my life. I need to leave this crypto world behind me soon. Please dear lord.' And on the last day of the year, there was a glimpse into her dreams for the future. December 31, 2023: '100x from here and we're out of here! New life begins! Remuera goal for 2024, 10m. Generational family home, pool [...], great kitchen, bathrooms, 4+ bedrooms, beautiful tropical garden.' The diaries showed how turbulent cryptocurrency trading could be. One early January day, DeLuney wrote the markets were 'waking up' – and the next, 'Market crashed. Liquidations everywhere.' DeLuney's bank records showed between January 2023 and January 2024, she spent more than $155,000 on cryptocurrency investments. Cryptocurrency consultant Nicolas Turnbull gave evidence to help the jury understand some of the jargon, but he said there seemed to be 'no real structure' to DeLuney's trading. 'There's a lot of emotion in it, where if you're trading, and you're doing this as a job ... in my professional opinion you need structure, you need risk management.' Julia DeLuney and her mother Helen Gregory. Photo / Supplied And as January wore on, the diaries revealed DeLuney's increasing disillusionment with trading. On January 10, she wrote: 'It's been an awful year so far, I'm done. Been trying so hard to crack this but as soon as I think it's in my reach, it gets taken away – again and again. I can't keep doing this, I just want a f***ng home and some financial security in old age. It's obviously not happening. F*** life!' On January 24, DeLuney visited her mother to book tickets to the ballet. Her diary entries that day – likely written before she visited her mother that evening – were Bible passages. 'This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.' Psalm 118.24 And: 'For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' Philippians 4.13 Crown prosecutor Stephanie Bishop told the jury in her closing argument they may never know the details of that evening, but 'something happened, something changed' – that led to DeLuney violently assaulting her mother. The next entry was on January 26, 2024 – two days after her mother's death. Alongside a to-do list of funeral arrangements, she quoted Romans 8.28: 'For all things work together for good to those who love him and that are called according to his purposes' and Matthew 6.33: 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all those things shall be added unto you.' The funeral took place on February 3 – a 'beautiful service'. 'I'm going to miss you forever my one and only darling, beautiful mum, be at rest and in peace with your Lord and savior Jesus Christ,' DeLuney wrote. The court saw diary entries up until February 8: 'Dear God, I love and miss mum sooo much, please take care of her. Thank you for blessing me with such a loving, kind and wise mum.' The jury took only a day to deliberate, returning their guilty verdict on Wednesday, just before 5pm. DeLuney was remanded in custody, to be sentenced in September. - RNZ

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