Murder confession ‘false’
A Manawatu¯ man who confessed to murdering his friend during an elaborate police sting has pleaded not guilty.
David Owen Lyttle is standing trial in the High Court at Palmerston North, charged with murdering Brett Hall, 47, seven years after his disappearance, despite a body never being recovered.
A ‘‘Mr Big’’ undercover operation by police in 2014 involved officers pretending to recruit Lyttle, 53, for an organised crime syndicate. An officer, who went under the pseudonym Nick, gained Lyttle’s trust and promised a huge payout if he disclosed his criminal history and got into the gang.
The Crown says during this three-month sting Lyttle confessed to killing Hall on May 27, 2011. But now he denies a charge of murder and the defence says Lyttle was forced into a false confession.
The Halcombe man sat sternly in the dock yesterday, facing a jury of 10 women and two men in a trial expected to take up to eight weeks.
The Crown alleges Hall arranged for his friend of 20 years, Lyttle, to build a house for him on his isolated rural property in Pitangi, up the Whanganui River.
Despite the payment of large sums of money, progress was slow.
In her opening statement, prosecutor Michele Wilkinsonsmith said Hall thought Lyttle was overcharging him for materials and ripping him off. When he demanded repayment of the money, Lyttle refused.
Instead, the Crown says he hatched a plan to lure Hall to a remote spot in Pitangi, where he shot and killed him and framed it as if Hall had gone hunting.
Unable to carry the body, Lyttle told undercover police officers in a sting three years later he dismembered Hall’s limbs and put them in black plastic rubbish bags.
He burnt a tarpaulin used to butcher Hall and loaded the bags into the back of his black Nissan Terrano, underneath a pile of firewood, the Crown says.
Lyttle was arrested in June 2014, seemingly out of the blue, but soon learned he had been the subject of an undercover operation. During that operation, he told officers he shot Hall and disposed of the body at Turakina Beach and Himatangi Beach.
He later said he buried parts of the body at a forestry block near Bulls.
Wilkinson-smith said Hall was last seen by his Pitangi neighbour at midday on May 27, 2011, with David Lyttle.
‘‘They were good friends, best friends. Brett Hall was the best man at David Lyttle’s wedding.’’
Although, in the weeks leading to Hall’s disappearance, illfeeling between the two started to show.
The Crown says the two had an argument at Hall’s mother’s home in Palmerston North, when Hall demanded repayment.
He accused Lyttle of charging too much for materials and not dedicating enough time to the project. Lyttle agreed to spend more time on the work.
The Crown says Lyttle shot Hall after another argument in Pitangi and made it look like a hunting trip. He drove Hall’s quad to the bushline and left a rifle case in his caravan.
He kept the body in his car for two days before attempting to dispose of it, Wilkinson-smith said.
Defence lawyer Christopher Stevenson said the Crown’s case was ‘‘nonsense’’, ‘‘false’’ and a ‘‘made up story’’.
The undercover operation promised Lyttle a new and extravagant life at a time where he was in significant financial trouble.
Lyttle was forced into a false confession because police had ‘‘made their mind up’’ and would settle for nothing less during the sting, he said.
‘‘It was made clear to him that him saying he had nothing to do with it was not acceptable.
‘‘Many people, innocent people, have given false confessions. He told them what they wanted to hear because they would settle for nothing less.’’
Stevenson said Hall was a large-scale drug dealer and a ‘‘big deal’’ was set to go down about the time he disappeared.
He delt methamphetamine and cannabis and had several criminal associates, the defence says.
Police found more than $14,000 cash, cannabis and white powder when searching his Pitangi property.
Stevenson said Lyttle was a mad fisherman and often cast a line off the beach early in the morning, which explained his movements near Turakina following Hall’s death.
The first Crown witness, Levona Hall, Brett Hall’s mother, told the court her son was ‘‘angry’’ Lyttle bought cheap materials and would rather go hunting than build his house.
The trial continues.
David Lyttle denies killing Brett Hall and says his confession was forced.