Tully remains in court for trial session
Double murder accused Russell John Tully has spent his longest period yet seated in court for his own trial in the High Court at Christchurch, as the Crown moved towards the end of its case.
The start of the eighth day of his trial for the shootings at the Ashburton WINZ offices was delayed by 1hr 45min, and then got under way with Tully sitting surrounded by four Prison Service officers. He was restrained in his chair by manacles.
On two other sessions when Tully has remained in court he has shouted and disrupted proceedings until he has had to be taken out of the courtroom. On one occasion he was removed after one minute, and three minutes on the second occasion.
The Crown called three witnesses today and Tully asked no questions of them after they had given their main evidence.
Then a detective, Brent Raymond Lyford, gave evidence of arresting him for murder after he was found in a hedge in Terrace Road near Ashburton. He was treated at the scene for dog bites.
He told of reading him his rights, and then transporting him to the Ashburton Police Station. He told the court Tully was moaning and dribbling in the back of the police van during the drive.
The court adjourned while Tully conferred with his two amicus curiae (friends of the court) who are assisting in court because he has no lawyer of his own.
When the court resumed, one of the amicus, Phil Shamy, asked the witness about whether Tully had been strip searched at the scene and placed in a surgical type gown. The officer said this had not been done, but part of his pants had been cut open to enable treatment for the dog bite.
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.
Category: News
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