‘Heavy, clotted’ blood found in accused’s car

A forensic scientist believes Blessie Gotingco was probably stabbed in the back of her murder accused’s BMW.

Fiona Matheson continued giving evidence on Friday in the High Court at Auckland during the jury trial of the man accused of abducting, raping and killing Gotingco.

The 28-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is defending himself after firing both his lawyers. Interim name suppression is in place for the duration of the trial, but his image is allowed to be published.

Matheson revealed that a substantial amount of blood was discovered in the murder accused’s apartment, garage and car.

Examinations of the blood found in the car, particularly a ‘‘heavy, clotted’’ blood found in the back seat, coupled with incision marks seen on the leather made by a ‘‘slashing’’ movement, led her to believe Gotingco was likely to have received her stab wounds in the car.

‘‘There was no indication of a heavily bloodied object being inside the apartment. If Ms Gotingco had been inside the apartment, it was before she heavily started to bleed,’’ Matheson said.

There was no evidence of a heavily bleeding person moving or standing in the garage either, although blood stains had been found on the wall and floor, she said.

A trail of blood, possibly made by bloodied shoes or feet, could be tracked from the garage, up the stairs and into the accused’s apartment, where a concentrated patch was found in the bathroom, she said.

Luminol testing, a chemical that can pick up the presence of blood unable to be seen by the naked eye, picked up blood in the shower, ‘‘in an area where a person might clean themselves’’.

Blood was sighted on the floor tiles of the master bedroom, on a mattress, on tiles in the lounge, various door handles, and the on/ off switch of the washing machine in the laundry.

In the BMW, ‘‘heavy, clotted’’ blood was seen in the footwell of the back seat, and further blood was seen on the head rests, the driver’s seat area and bonnet. Pooled blood was found in the boot, she said.

A fish knife taken from the kitchen had blood on it when Matheson received it.

The knife had been inserted into a ‘‘tamper proof knife tube’’.