Accused’s DNA found at scene

A syringe cap found in the room where Tracey-Anne Harris died was found to have Rose Morgan’s DNA on it, but a defence lawyer says there is no way to know how it got there.

Institute of Environmental Science and Research scientist Susan Vintner gave evidence regarding the DNA samples provided from the scene.

Rose Morgan and Tyler Baillie are on trial for the murder of Harris, who was found dead in the spare bedroom of her home in Marlowe St, Stoke on February 11, 2016. The Crown alleges that they murdered Harris on February 7, injecting her with a cocktail of drugs before suffocating her with a pillow.

Vintner gave evidence in the High Court at Nelson on Thursday. The DNA samples were collected from a variety of objects in the room, including a pillow, a syringe and cap, scissors, a biro, a cigarette, and a blanket.

Vintner said most of the samples were ‘‘too complex’’ to find strong DNA matches for, or did not have enough usable material to determine accurately.

However, there was ‘‘extremely strong scientific support’’ to suggest Morgan’s DNA was on the syringe cap found in the room. There was also DNA from another person on the syringe cap, but the DNA was not able to be identified.

Defence lawyer Cameron Lawes asked whether it was possible to know if Morgan had actually touched the cap. He asked Vintner whether the DNA could have been transferred there accidentally, given the small size of the room and the fact Morgan had been sitting there before.

Vintner said it was not possible for her to say how the DNA came to be on the syringe cap, and she could not exclude the possibility that it had been transferred.

Lawes also suggested there could have been cross-contamination when the items were picked up at the crime scene by police detectives, with the syringe cap being the last item to be picked up in the bedroom during the scene examination. Vintner said this could also be a possibility.

Evidence was given by a police fingerprint analyst that Morgan’s fingerprints were also found at the address.

Three witnesses appeared yesterday to give evidence relating to Morgan and Baillie.

A male witness, who has been given name suppression, told the jury Baillie had confessed to him about Harris’s murder, on the day her body was discovered by police.

The man said he and Baillie had been visiting a friend in Marsden Valley when Baillie received a call from police. He looked shocked and shaken after the call, but did not say anything to him until after visiting the police station in Nelson.

After driving away from the police station, the man said he offered his condolences to Baillie, who started to cry. He said Baillie told him he had ‘‘done something wrong’’, and made a motion holding a fist across his chest.

‘‘I didn’t really understand what he meant by that. He said he strangled her.’’

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Ron Mansfield asked how the man’s memory had been during that time. The witness said he had been consuming methamphetamine heavily during 2015 and 2016, and had only a vague recollection of the statement he made to police in July 2016.

Mansfield questioned the man regarding the breakdown of the relationship with Baillie by the time he made his statement to police – along with a claim from Baillie that the man could have his ute ‘‘if s*** went down’’.

The man said he had not fallen out with Baillie as of July, but they had not seen each other as often, and Baillie owed him money.

Mansfield suggested that the statement to police was concocted from rumours the man had heard, as a way for him to get the money back, along with the promised ute.

‘‘I’m not vindictive like that,’’ the man said. ‘‘It can’t be gossip when it got told directly to my face.’’

Another female witness, who was also given name suppression, said Morgan had told her she had been plying Harris with drugs leading up to her death.