Three staff arrested at hospital where Lucy Letby worked
Tags:
To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following:
See terms of use.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Khandallah murder trial: Daughter allegedly took money to invest in cryptocurrency
By Catherine Hutton, Open Justice reporter of The High Court trial has completed its second week and is expected to run another two. Photo: RNZ / Hamish Cardwell A woman killed in her home confided in friends in the months before her death that two large sums of money had gone missing from her house, including up to $85,000 her daughter later admitted to investing in cryptocurrency. Helen Gregory, 79, was killed in her Khandallah home in January last year. Daughter Julia DeLuney is charged with her murder, but claims someone else was responsible. The Crown has suggested DeLuney, who dealt in cryptocurrency, was in financial difficulty and attacked her mother before leaving the house, driving to her own home and then returning later with her husband. DeLuney maintains she left her mother with minor injuries, after her mother fell from the attic. She drove back to her house on the Kāpiti Coast, only to return to what she described as a "warzone". The High Court at Wellington has already heard that Gregory distrusted banks, preferring instead to keep plastic packets of cash hidden around her Baroda St house. In September 2023, Gregory was hospitalised after a fall, and during that time, DeLuney and her husband stayed at Gregory's house. Gregory's friends have told the court that, upon being discharged from hospital, she came home to find her house in disarray. Alcohol bottles were strewn throughout the house and DeLuney's dogs had defecated throughout the house. A friend, Cheryl Thomson, recalled a conversation where Gregory told her about putting $85,000 into a pocket of her dressing gown and folding it in a certain way, so she'd know if someone had touched it. After her release from the hospital, Gregory noticed the money was missing and mentioned it to Thomson during a phone call. Asked if Gregory disclosed who'd taken the money, Thomson told the court: "She told me categorically, without any doubt, that the only person who knew that the money was there was Julia." She said Gregory told her daughter in case anything happened to her. Thomson said Gregory was upset because her daughter took the money without asking. She told the court that, when Gregory asked DeLuney about it, the accused said she'd taken and invested it in cryptocurrency. "It's all safe, mum, don't worry," Thomson recalls Gregory told her. Another friend, Elizabeth Askin, told the court she thought the amount that DeLuney took to invest was about $75-76,000. She recalled Gregory telling her that DeLuney promised her mother she'd return the money by November 2023, only to then change her mind and say she wouldn't repay the money until April the following year. The court also heard Gregory noticed $13,000 she left inside a salad bowl went missing at the end of 2023. The phone call of Gregory reporting the theft to the police on New Year's Day was played to the jury. During the call, Gregory also told the police she had received phone calls, almost every day for the past month. When she answered the phone, no-one was there. Gregory also mentioned the calls to her friend, Jennifer Patterson, who told the court that Gregory said she received these calls at all hours of the day and night. Patterson said Gregory was worried that someone was trying to case the joint and it was "freaking her out". When questioned by DeLuney's lawyer, Quentin Duff, her friends confirmed that Gregory was a lovely person, who was strong both mentally and spiritually, and regularly attended church and prayer meetings. She was very generous and always keen to help those in need, but was discreet about her generosity and didn't like to blow her own trumpet. The jury trial before Justice Peter Churchman has now finished its second week and is expected to run for a further two. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Alleged hotbox murder: Gang president never ordered assault, victim was ‘mate of 20 years'
By Belinda Feek, Open Justice reporter of On trial for the murder of Mark Hohua are Tribesmen gang members (clockwise from top left) Te Patukino Biddle, Ngahere Tapara, Dean Collier, Conway Rapana and Heremaia Gage. Photo: Supplied/NZME The president of the Tribesmen Aotearoa gang says he didn't want a fellow member to be killed and didn't order a 'hotbox' attack on him. Mark 'Shark' Hohua died, after a series of assaults at president Conway Rapana's Hodges Rd property in Waimana, Eastern Bay of Plenty, in June 2022. The Crown has told a jury that the attack was a hotbox, ordered by Rapana. A hotbox is when a gang delivers a beating to one of its members. Rapana was allegedly upset that Hohua, 48, had set up an automatic payment from the gang's bank account for three online purchases. In his closing statement, Crown Solicitor Richard Jenson said Rapana had been heard to say that Hohua "needed to be killed", after Rapana found out about the money. Rapana, vice-president Heremaia Gage, patched members Ngahere Tapara and Te Patukino Biddle, and prospect Dean Collier are on trial in the High Court at Hamilton, accused of Hohua's murder. Rapana's defence counsel, Nick Dutch, said Hohua's death was a "tragedy, we can't shy away from that". "On 19 June 2022, Conrad Rapana lost his friend of over 20 years." Rapana had previously taken Hohua to his house to help shake him out of his addictions, banning drinking and drugs, and instead getting him fit and strong. Hohua's partner, Rebecca Van Der Aa, testified that she "hated" Rapana, but she admitted Hohua and Rapana had been friends, and that Rapana had tried to help Hohua. Dutch also reminded the jury about a time when Hohua texted his resignation to the gang in the weeks before his death. "Conrad's response was, 'Love you brother, I will miss you, my bro, Tribesmen'. "Unfortunately, though, Mark Hohua died. "No-one wanted this to happen. Conrad Rapana certainly didn't want him to die." He disagreed with the Crown's suggestion that Hohua's death was planned. "This was instead unplanned fighting. It was just chaos." There was also no hotbox, he said. "It wasn't a hotbox. The children wouldn't have been there, if there was a hotbox. "[Rapana's partner] wouldn't have been there, if it was a hotbox." In a text exchange with Gage, Rapana had described the incident as "a f***** ugly mess". "And that's what it was," Dutch said. There was also no evidence that Rapana had ordered a hotbox on Hohua. "There's no evidential foundation. The text evidence is that no-one knew." It was the opposite, in that Rapana hadn't been heard urging the start of a fight, only to "stop" fighting. "They just heard him say, 'Stop' with urgency." Biddle's lawyer, Matthew Goodwin, told the jury earlier in the trial that Hohua's fatal injuries were caused, when he fell on a set of steep and unstable concrete steps, while fleeing the house. Dutch reminded the jury that Justice David Johnstone had already made it clear that they could not convict the defendants of murder, if they were not sure whether he fell. "And you can't guess, because if there are two or more logical conclusions, you can't draw an inference that one is preferred to the other." He referred to the evidence of a pathologist, who said it was "an entirely possible scenario" that Hohua's head injury was caused by a fall. "Mr Rapana is not guilty of murder and not guilty of manslaughter," Dutch said. Biddle's counsel, Matthew Goodwin, said his client's phone call from 28 June, 2022, held several key markers of his defence. He admitted giving Hohua "a hiding or at least part of it". "He knew he'd made some sort of contribution to his death, because he talks about manslaughter. "Of course, he's had no legal advice for that call... but he was pretty much on the money, because he pleaded guilty to manslaughter." In the phone call, played again to the jury, Biddle is asked by a friend about what happened and whether he was "going down for it and did you give him the hiding?" "Pretty much," Biddle replied. Asked whether he could argue that someone had "sent him" to do it, he replied, "Nah, nope". He then said his "intention was never to kill him". "The c**t just jumped off the bank and f***** himself up," Biddle is heard saying. Goodwin also said the Crown appeared to have taken only the pieces of Biddle's evidence that suited its case. "The staircase was a crucial factor... in causing Mr Hohua's injury. The Crown is scared of that reality and that's why they try to present a different picture to you." Jenson had submitted that Biddle was trying to "soften the blow" by admitting manslaughter on the phone. "Really?" Goodwin asked. "'I gave him a hiding and I'm guilty of manslaughter'. "I'm not sure that's what I would call softening the blow to a friend. "He's admitting culpable homicide, which is manslaughter." Goodwin said all he asked of the jury was to "apply fairness and common sense". "Isn't the Crown really cherry-picking the evidence that suits them, then rubbishing the evidence that doesn't?" He said Biddle's admission was a "major road block" for the Crown's aim to secure murder convictions. "The just verdict for my client is not guilty to murder." Rebekah Webby, counsel for Gage, said her client's position was different from the others. Apart from his confirmation that he was at the property that day, there was no evidence that he did anything. She cited the evidence of Hohua's son, Matiu Jnr, who went to the property with his father and Biddle that day. "When he's asked specifically about Mr Gage, he didn't think he had seen Mr Gage, didn't see Mr Gage hit... kick... or following any instructions, following anyone or see anything. "In fact, he didn't see Mr Gage whatsoever around his father." She pointed to drone footage of them arriving - Matiu Jnr said himself that he looked "pretty relaxed". "If you're his son, you wouldn't walk up to the property, if you knew... he was going to get a hotbox and start hugging people," Webby said. She said no-one knew that Hohua was going to be at the property that day. "The only proper verdict for Mr Gage is not guilty to both murder and manslaughter." Collier's counsel, Bill Nabney, told the jury that his client was innocent. "The first thing is that Dean Collier is not guilty of murder or manslaughter." He submitted that's because the gang's new sergeant-at-arms at the time, Wayne Kiri, who is now with Black Power Ruatoki, told Collier he would be taking the rap for Hohua's death. "Mr Kiri has the power to do that, because he has the power in the Tribesmen... he was the enforcer. "He's the man doing the clean up. Mr Kiri wasn't even at the house on the 18th, but is organising what he wants to be the narrative." Kiri had also forced Collier to lie to the police on two occasions and also about finding Hohua's body on a bridge. "He was just doing what he was told to do." Hospital staff testified that Collier looked upset, when dropping off Hohua. Nabney said Collier was not part of any of the violence and was critical of the evidence given by Te Haruru Biddle, the brother of the defendant, and Hohua's son, Matiu, which he labelled "inconsistent". Te Haruru Biddle gave "four different accounts as to what he says happened" and admitted, in his cross-examination, that he'd been told what to say about Collier's involvement that day. Tapara's counsel, Caitlin Gentleman, told the jury there was no evidence her client was involved in any of the violence. In fact, the first assault at the shed had either already started or "potentially finished" by the time Tapara arrived at Hodges Rd. "The Crown is asking you to assume that because he was at Hodges Rd that day, that he was involved in the assault at the shed. "There's absolutely no evidence from anyone ... that Mr Tapara was in or near that shed." Three witnesses who were there that day had testified, but none had said that Tapara was near the shed. As for a third alleged assault at the river, Gentleman said that it never happened because her client stopped it from happening. He did clean up Hohua, washing off blood, using a water bottle. The person the Crown was relying on, Te Haruru Biddle, couldn't be relied on because he'd given four different accounts of how and where Hohua got into the Rav 4 to be taken to the river. "No one at Hodges Rd saw Mr Tapara hitting or punching anyone." Tapara did take Hohua to the hospital because he cared. "You heard [evidence] from the nurse that he was concerned, and said, 'make sure you hold his head up'. "This wasn't a dump and run." She urged them to find Tapara not guilty of both murder and manslaughter. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Khandallah murder trial: 'Blood looked staged'
science crime 29 minutes ago A forensic scientist has told the jury in the Khandallah murder trial that, in her opinion, the blood in the hallway looked staged. Julia DeLuney is accused of murdering her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory, who was killed at her Wellington home in January 2024. Kate Green reports.
