Cries of ‘help’ heard

A beekeeper heard cries of ‘‘help’’ from missing man Brett Hall’s property three days after his disappearance.

Tracey Moorhouse was extracting honey from a Pitangi farm when screams from what sounded like a distressed man rung out over the valley, she told the High Court in Palmerston North yesterday.

The noises were coming from the neighbouring property that belonged to Hall and were followed by the bright glint of a windowpane, she said.

Halcombe man David Lyttle is standing trial for allegedly shooting, suffocating and killing Hall, before dismembering his body with a stanley knife and burying it in two locations on May 27, 2011. The body has never been found.

The Crown says Lyttle has, in an elaborate police sting, confessed to killing Hall. But the defence says the confession was forced and false.

Moorhouse, who lived close to Hall’s farm, heard four yelps on May 30, three days after the 47-year-old’s disappearance.

The first two times she heard the word ‘‘help’’. Although the last two were muffled, she made out ‘‘hey’’.

‘‘It was a very still, crisp morning. I walked towards where I thought the noise was coming from and saw a glint from what I thought to be a windowpane. I waited to see if I could hear anything more, but there was nothing.’’

Moorhouse reported what she heard to her colleague, Gary Tweedale, but he dismissed it.

The duo carried on to the next beehive, 10 kilometres up the road, but returned 30 minutes later to put Moorhouse’s mind at ease.

She yelled twice, over the Pitangi track, but there was no reply.

Her partner and parents told her it was likely a goat that she heard, but Moorhouse told the court she grew up in the area and was familiar with the bush and sounds of different animals.

‘‘I was curious as to what I heard. I was concerned.

‘‘It sounded deeper than a goat and I said [to mum on the phone] that we should go up to the man who lived there.’’

Her father, Lyn Moorhouse, told the court he went past Hall’s property the next day, four day’s after Hall’s disappearance, with neighbour John Thurlow.

They noticed a possum in the trap and Hall’s quad bike not parked where it should be.

‘‘It was unusual. People typically kill the possum pretty quick to stop them suffering.

‘‘I [told] John Thurlow: ‘Something funny is going on over there’.’’

Earlier in the day, the court heard Hall and Lyttle had dinner around the campfire two weeks before Hall’s disappearance, despite reports of ill-feeling between the two.

Kyla Butcher, the former girlfriend of Lyttle’s son Michael, said it was obvious the pair were close because they ‘‘got along nicely’’ and interacted like good mates.

Butcher joined Lyttle and two others on a hunting trip at Hall’s Pitangi property two weeks before his disappearance.

She didn’t notice any disharmony between the pair and said Lyttle helped Hall with chores around the campsite, where his dream house was being built.

Earlier in the week the court heard from Hall’s family, who said resentment between the pair was growing. Lyttle was expected to have finished building Hall’s home, but progress had been slow and Hall suspected Lyttle was ripping him off by buying poor materials.

Butcher said Hall pulled into his property shortly after they did, carrying a load of gravel in the back of his ute.

Dallas Alexander, Michael Lyttle’s friend, was also at the campsite and told the court Hall was relaxed and in a good mood.

The trial continues.

‘‘I was curious as to what I heard. I was concerned.’’ Tracey Moorhouse