Manning murder trial begins closed court sessions
The Mellory Manning murder trial has begun hearing days of evidence which is suppressed and cannot be reported, and is being heard in a closed court.
Justice David Gendall made his order in the High Court at Christchurch on the 14th day of the trial of 26-year-old Mauha Huatahi Fawcett who is charged with the murder of the sex worker in 2008.
Justice Gendall ordered that the court be closed to the public and said the suppression order on the material was interim and could be reconsidered later.
Before the court was closed, the police continued to present evidence about interviewing Fawcett and the police’s Operation Dallington murder investigation. The Crown alleges Miss Manning, 27, was taken from Manchester Street and beaten, strangled, and stabbed to death at a Mongrel Mob gang address in Avonside before her body was dumped in the Avon River. It alleges she was killed because of debts owed for drugs or for a Mob “tax” on sex workers.
Detective Senior Sergeant Brian Archer told the court that CCTV and traffic camera footage from Manchester Street did not show any images of Fawcett or his vehicle. There was no camera coverage of the Peterborough Street-Kilmore Street-Oxford Terrace area where he had been. Mellory Manning had worked in that area.
Cross-examined by Fawcett’s legal adviser, Craig Ruane, Detective Senior Sergeant Archer said that Fawcett had been told about another source’s allegation that Fawcett had been the one who did the killing of Miss Manning.
Mr Ruane put to him that the police inquiry had been operating on second or third hand material, and it was being “fed material that was more or less unreliable”.
The officer replied: “A lot of people were spoken to. Some gang members spoke to us, some did not. Some had insights, some did not.”
Mr Ruane put to him that the information was “rumours – none of this was evidence in itself”.
“If anything, these revelations by people you were speaking to were was much of a hindrance as a help,” said Mr Ruane.
Detective Senior Sergeant Archer said it was a matter of speaking to the people concerned and corroborating what the police were being told.
He said that Fawcett had been approached by police because he had left Christchurch soon after the murder of Miss Manning.
Mr Ruane asked: “Someone who has left the Mob, and left town, is going to be more likely to be helpful than someone who is heavily involved in the Mob?”
Detective Senior Sergeant Archer: “Potentially. We did not know why he had left town.”
The officer acknowledged that promises and assistance could be made to someone who was offering assistance to the police “depending on the case”.
The trial is expected to continue all next week.
Category: News
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