Doctor told cops he is not a killer
The jury at the trial of a Dunedin doctor has been shown his police interview, in which he denies killing Amber-Rose Rush.
‘‘No, no, please,’’ Venod Skantha told Detective Wayne O’Connell as he was placed under arrest at the Dunedin police station at 9.30pm on February 4, 2017.
The body of Amber-Rose, 16, had found by her mother the previous day and police soon zeroed in on Skantha, now 32.
At the High Court in Dunedin, the Crown has alleged a threat to expose Skantha to his employer and police was behind his motive to kill.
During the 45-minute interview Skantha told O’Connell he had met Amber-Rose about four months previously but was never that close with her.
He claimed he was only aware of her death when he was at the home of his girlfriend in Balclutha, about an hour’s drive from Dunedin.
Early in that interview Skantha asked ‘‘are you going to tell me?’’ over how Amber-Rose died.
He then elaborated on his relationship with the teen, which included her spending $45 on his credit card and an Instagram post he was only made aware of on the night of Amber-Rose’s murder. Skantha said he knew of that post, which said he had sexually assaulted Amber-Rose, through a mutual friend, who has been the main witness at the trial.
‘‘I am definitely not a creep,’’ he told police. Skantha maintained he picked up the key witness the night
Amber-Rose was killed but did not go near her house. He later recalled being driven to Blackhead Quarry, where police later found AmberRose’s dumped phone.
Skantha told O’Connell that after returning from the South Otago town, he met Amber-Rose’s mother, Lisa-Ann Rush, but at the time did not know what had happened with her daughter.
‘‘I have some theories but I don’t think it is my place to throw anyone under the bus,’’ he said. O’Connell later asked for some honesty about visiting Amber-Rose’s home in Clermiston Ave, Corstorphine. ‘‘I am being very honest with you.
‘‘Are you suggesting did something?’’ Skantha labelled that line of questioning ‘‘absurd’’.
Amber-Rose’s social media accusations was ‘‘childish stuff that does not affect me’’. ‘‘Why would I have risked my career for that?’’
He also rejected questions from O’Connell asking if he entered her home with a spare key, and killed her with a knife from the kitchen of his Fairfield home.
He also denied burning clothes in Balclutha, or his car being cleaned back at his home.
It was then that Skantha pointed the finger at his friend, who gave evidence last week. ‘‘I wonder if it was him?’’ He told O’Connell that if his friend knew so much, then maybe they should look at him.
Skantha, when asked if he had a masterplan, said: ‘‘What masterplan, seriously?’’
Placed under arrest, Skantha asked to see his former partner and tried to leave the interview room.
The trial continues.
IBehrouz Boochani now knows firsthand that Kiwis are a polite bunch – perhaps too polite.
The award-winning Kurdish Iranian writer and refugee arrived at Christchurch Airport a week ago, happy but exhausted after long hours of travelling from Papua New Guinea, where he had become the voice of Manus Island refugees detained by the Australian Government. It was his first taste of freedom in six years.
‘‘I have met with so many people,’’ he said, of his trip to Christchurch. ‘‘Most of the people are so kind. ‘‘I am naturally a shy person. It is quite hard for me. It takes so much energy from me to express myself.’’
People in cafes approach him and smile, they shake his hand but they don’t want to take up his time. There is that Kiwi politeness. It is nice but sometimes he wishes they lingered a little longer. ‘‘I was somewhere in Christchurch, a photographer was taking a photo of me,’’ he said.
‘‘Then suddenly a young man came up to me. He gave me a book and said it was his story, and left after 20 seconds. I looked at it to find an email. I wanted to talk to him for a while.’’
Boochani’s own book is the prizewinning No Friend But the Mountains, written in secret on a hidden mobile phone while he was in captivity on Australia’s notorious offshore detention centre.
He witnessed suffering, the riots and the suicides, while Australia refused to accept New Zealand’s offer to take refugees.
‘‘New Zealand was always like the big chance for us, the big hope,’’ he said. ‘‘But we couldn’t touch it.