Khandallah murder trial: Lead detective to be questioned by defence lawyers
Photo:
SUPPLIED
The police officer heading the investigation into Helen Gregory's murder is set to be questioned by the defence, as the trial nears the end of its fourth week.
Julia DeLuney is
accused of murdering her 79-year-old mother
in a brutal, financially-motivated attack in January last year.
Detective senior sergeant Tim Leitch has been watching the trial unfold from the public gallery.
He, along with family and friends of the victim - and the accused - heard evidence from dozens of Crown witnesses, on everything from
blood spatters
to
phone movements
to
cryptocurrency
.
When it came time to begin his own evidence on Wednesday, Leitch told the court it took police a day to switch their investigation to a manslaughter.
In his mind, he said, there were three possible scenarios.
"We've got the scenario of a fall - that's becoming quite unlikely, a fall on its own I should say. We've got the scenario of Mrs DeLuney being somehow involved with the death of her mother, or we've got the scenario of a third, unknown person being responsible for the death of Mrs Gregory."
He said at its peak, some 25 police officers were working on the case. The trial has heard from many of them.
But the defence has been picking holes in the investigation.
Defence lawyer Quentin Duff told the jury in his opening three weeks ago the police developed tunnel vision and never seriously considered anyone else for the crime.
He called the police investigation "one-eyed", and urged the jury to keep that in mind throughout.
But Leitch said it was the inconsistencies in DeLuney's story, the amount of blood around the house and her clothing changes on the night which pinpointed her as a suspect.
He explained how police used emergency powers to bug DeLuney's phone, and that of her husband. "In my experience it can be extremely useful to deploy those tactics early in an investigation," Leitch said.
A warrant was signed in the High Court only days after the death which allowed police to listen in on their phones and their car for 60 days.
The trial has not heard any evidence this turned up anything incriminating, and the defence argued it showed how quickly police narrowed their investigation.
On Tuesday, the jury heard evidence from a forensic accountant, who said analysis of DeLuney's bank statements showed she had made a number of small cash deposits over the past year, many on the same day, which added up to tens of thousands.
Crown prosecutor Stephanie Bishop asked Detective Leitch why this might raise suspicion.
He explained small, frequent deposits were usually done to avoid drawing the attention of the bank, which kept an out for large, one-off deposits.
The trial, which was set down for four weeks, continues on Thursday.
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