October 03, 2012

Woman denies taking 'dirty' money

By David Clarkson

A woman has denied that she or her husband took about $35,000 in cash that had been buried inside a locked deer shed on their Nelson farm.

The money had been hidden there for an old friend, Terry Jones, who was a member of the Red Devils motorcycle club.

?Why would you take dirty money?? she asked as she gave evidence on the third day of the trial of four people on charges of blackmail, in the High Court at Christchurch.

?I didn?t take the money and nor did [my husband],? she said during cross-examination, telling the court how scared she had been because of threats she alleged had been made against her husband and family.

She also criticised defence counsel Bryan Green for his questioning which revealed another name she has been using.

?Do you know how dangerous it?s going to be for me now? Thank you very much,? she said.

On trial before Justice Robert Dobson and a jury are Jones, 43, and his partner Anna Heloise Horgan, 37, of Nelson, and Ritchie Stuart Clutterbuck, 49, and Leon Delshannon Turner, 37, of Christchurch.

They all deny the charge of blackmail either as principal offenders or as parties. The Crown alleges that when the money disappeared from where it had been hidden on the farm, threats were made to the safety of the farmer and his family to try to get it back again.

The woman said there had been a domestic incident at the farm in September 2011 and her husband had been arrested and charged. She later checked on the farm and found the furniture gone, so she checked whether it had been locked in the deer shed by her husband to stop her taking it.

She broke into the shed. She did not know exactly where the money was hidden but she searched for it in the shed and saw the buried paint tin part of it was in. The rest was in an ammunition tin.

She said she did not take it, in cross-examination by Steve Rollo, counsel for Jones.

Justice Dobson then advised her that she was allowed to invoke a privilege that meant she did not have to give evidence that might incriminate her, but she said she would answer the questions.

Rollo: ?Did you steal it??

?I didn?t steal that money,? she replied.

Rollo: ?Do you understand why your husband was blaming you for stealing that money??

She said: ?Yes, because we just had a big domestic (dispute) and I got him arrested.?

She said she would not have agreed to sell her properties to pay money to the people who owned the money, even though her husband had told her she would have to.

?In the end I said no, I?m not going to be intimidated. I have worked hard for my properties.?

She denied the accusation from Rollo that she and her husband had taken the money and then ?concocted the threats?.

In answer to Green, who is counsel for Clutterbuck, she denied that she had told another man that she had ?taken money from a hole in the ground?.

She acknowledged to Green that she and her husband were in serious financial trouble. She was just managing the mortgages on two properties ? which remain on the market ? and she had three credit cards which were ?maxed to the limit?.

The trial stopped early yesterday when Clutterbuck was assessed as having had a mild heart attack and taken to hospital, but he was back at court for an early start today and the trial continued. It is expected to continue all week.