Julia DeLuney is on trial for the murder of her 79-year-old mother. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Warning: This story contains graphic details
Blood on the walls, bloodied clothing and objects strewn around the house were among the details the jury heard today as the trial of Julia DeLuney, charged with killing her mother, continued.
Helen Gregory, aged 79, died at her home in the Wellington suburb of Khandallah in January 2024. DeLuney has pleaded not guilty to her murder.
The Crown's case is that DeLuney, who first appeared 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, where they found Gregory in the smallest bedroom.
Paramedic Andrew Cope told the jury that they had initially tried to resuscitate Gregory after seeing facial injuries, but had then discovered a large open 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.
Photographs showed blood smeared across the door frame and inside a cupboard in which the attic hatch was located, and along the wall in the hallway.
Several witnesses testified to seeing household items such as an ironing board and toilet paper sprawling out from the cupboard.
Police constable Stella Lowe, who was one of the first police responders, said when she arrived DeLuney was sitting on the couch with her head in her hands and was crying on and off.
She said DeLuney's husband meanwhile showed little emotion.
Lowe said DeLuney had some blood around her nail beds, but otherwise her hands were clean.
Police constable Nicholas Hutton, who arrived at the same time, said DeLuney's hair also appeared to have been recently washed and was dripping at the tips.
Hutton said he had noticed bloodied footprints on the floor between the kitchen and dining area.
Another paramedic, Karl Winter, told DeLuney and her husband that Gregory was dead.
He gave evidence that he had noticed DeLuney had blood on her clothes and had suggested she change.
The clothes were later collected by police, Constable Russel Moorcock said during his evidence.
As emergency responders from Wellington Free Ambulance took the stand today, defence counsel Quentin Duff asked each if they had blood on their shoes or clothes.
None could recall.
Each emergency responder reported that when they arrived they had been unable to go through a locked front door and had to go through a door on the patio at the back of the house.
Jurors were also taken on a tour of Gregory's home through police scene photographs - taken after they had completed their scene examination - which used 360 degree camera technology.
The Baroda Street house is single-storey three bedroom home which Detective Constable Kristina O'Connor told the court was tidy and organised.
The trial is in its second day, and is expected to take four to five weeks.
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