Strong DNA link to Tully, trial told
DNA sampling from a cycle helmet left behind by the Ashburton WINZ gunman provided an “extremely strong” link to Russell John Tully, a scientist has told the seventh day of the trial in the High Court at Christchurch.
ESR scientist Lisa Marie Melia told the trial about testing samples taken after the shootings on September 1, 2014, when a gunman killed two men, wounded a third, and fired at a fourth.
The trial has heard earlier of the alleged gunman being approached by a member of the public outside the offices as he tried to get away on a mountainbike. The man who approached him told the trial earlier that the gunman had been “rattled” and left behind a cycle helmet and bicycle lock.
Samples were taken from the inner straps of the helmet and sent for analysis.
The scientist said she had done DNA testing on the samples which were mainly skin cells. “It was a trace sample from cells that are shed through friction as we touch surfaces.”
The DNA profile provided “extremely strong scientific support” for the position that the DNA on the bike helmet originated from Tully, she told the trial.
Cross-examined, the scientist said she could not draw conclusions about how DNA came to be on items where it was retrieved from.
However, she said the amount of DNA sample retrieved from the helmet indicated it was more likely to have been worn by the person whose DNA was found, rather than being transferred there from a secondary source – such as Tully shaking someone’s hand who then handled the helmet – or from a brief touching of the straps.
Tully, 49, is on trial for the murders of Peggy Turuhira Noble and Susan Leigh Cleveland and the attempted murder of Lindy Louise Curtis and Kim Elizabeth Adams, in a shotgun shooting at the Ashburton Work and Income NZ office on September 1, 2014.
He is also charged with setting a man trap – a steel wire stretched between two trees – and unlawful possession of two shotguns.
Tully, who was not in court again today, has no lawyer of his own and is represented in court by two amicus curiae (friends of the court), James Rapley and Phil Shamy. Andrew McRae and Mark Zarifeh represent the Crown.
The Crown is continuing to present evidence from nearly 80 witnesses in the trial.
Category: News
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