A forensic scientist giving evidence in the Khandallah murder trial says there was evidence of blood around the kitchen sink, as though someone tried to clean up.
Helen Gregory, 79, was killed at home in January last year, and her daughter Julia DeLuney is on trial for her murder at the High Court in Wellington.
The Crown says DeLuney attacked her mother before staging it to look like she had fallen from the attic, but the defence says someone else caused those injuries in the 90 minutes in which she had gone to get help.
Glenys Knight from ESR told the court today that in her opinion, it appeared someone had washed blood-stained hands or an object in the kitchen sink.
There was some visible blood on the bench around the sink when the scene was examined, and a Luminol test revealed extensive blood spattering.
Knight told the court she had attended more than 150 scenes, many of which were homicides, including several multiple homicides and high profile cases, and she carried out the scene examination at Gregory’s home at 8 Baroda St.
Pieces of detached hair and flesh were preserved, along with a broken nail, which had small blood stains on it.
She said visible blood was found on a number of items and doorways in multiple rooms, and its presence was confirmed with different tests, including the Kastle-Meyer test, the Combur test and Luminol testing, in which a chemical reagent reacts with blood and glows blue in low light.
The court heard in earlier evidence the street lights in the area were turned off to allow for Luminol testing.
Areas in and around the sink lit up strongly during testing.
“In my opinion, these were most likely created by diluted blood being flicked or splashed and then left to dry,” Knight said.
“From the position of these stains around the sink, it would appear likely that someone has washed blood-stained hands or a blood-stained item in the kitchen sink.”
Next to the sink, in a Wild Bean Cafe paper bag, sat an uneaten pastry.
Blood was also found on the doorframe and door handle of the patio door, the tap in the laundry, the handle of the fridge, a mug on the kitchen table and on the kitchen floor – in Knight’s opinion, all were transfer stains from another object – along with the extensive blood in the bedroom Gregory was found in, and the hallway.
It was also found on her personal alarm, normally worn on the wrist but instead found sitting on the television cabinet in the sitting room.
“Some blood stains, which in my opinion appeared dilute were detected on the front and back of the face and strap of the NevaAlone personal alarm,” Knight said, reading from her report.
That alarm was also sampled for trace DNA, but Knight did not speak about the results of that test.
No blood was found on cleaning products in the cleaning cupboard, or its handles.
There were also two circles of “probable” blood on the white tile next to the stove – only classed as probably as they reacted with luminol but the other, less sensitive tests did not confirm its presence.
Those circles matched a number of items in the house, including some crockery, lamps, candle holders and a metal bucket under the sink, but there were no traces of blood found on any of those items.
Knight said the bloody footprints on the kitchen floor were unusual, in that the soles did not have a detailed pattern on the bottom, indicating they might be from slippers or dress shoes which usually had featureless sole patterns.
Neighbour says blinds remained open
In separate evidence, a neighbour told the court that on the night of Gregory’s death, the lights in her home were off and the blinds left open.
The neighbour said she went to bed about 10pm, and at that point, the house was in darkness and nobody had closed the blinds.
But she said she woke up around 2am to see lights on in Gregory’s house, which were shining into her own bedroom.
She said she did worry something had happened, and the next day, a police officer knocked on her door to take her statement.
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