Man ‘buried in forest after death’

Southland man Dale Watene likely died immediately after being shot and was buried in a forest soon after, a High Court jury heard.

A police video was played to the jury of an interview between Sergeant Frederick Shandley and Sandy Maree Graham, which was filmed on August 2020, the day she was charged with murder.

Graham, 32, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Dale Tama Watene, 40, at Otautau on April 16, 2020.

George Ivor Hyde, 24, has pleaded not guilty to being an accessory after the fact to the murder of Watene, at Otautau between April 16, 2020 and April 27, 2020.

Shandley, in the video interview, puts forensic evidence to Graham, including analysis of a .22 Ruger semi-automatic rifle, analysis of blood stains at her house, mobile phone data and evidence from Watene’s grave site.

DNA samples from the Ruger’s muzzle and sight came back to Watene, Shandley said, and police believed Graham had the firearm at the time.

In the interview, Graham tells Shandley ‘‘I swear on my kids’ life I honestly did not have that gun.’’

After playing a recorded phone conversation between Graham and her step-mother, Shandley asked how Graham could ‘‘possibly know’’ that Watene had been shot in the throat, which she said during the phone call.

Graham said an associate of hers was ‘‘mates with half the detectives’’.

There were blood stains in Graham’s house and police had obtained a DNA sample from it, Shandley said.

Watene had been assaulted by a man in the months before and the blood could have come from that incident, Graham said.

A postmortem found Watene was buried not long after his death.

Watene was shot through the mouth with a small-calibre low energy weapon. The bullet passed the upper surface of his tongue and struck his spinal column in the back of his throat, Shandley said.

The range [of the shot that killed Watene] was likely 0.4 of a metre, the sergeant said, and the injury would likely cause immediate collapse and would likely be immediately fatal.

Phone records showed Graham and Hyde communicated on the night of April 16, 2020, and that Hyde’s phone travelled from Tuatapere to Otautau, Shandley said.

Bricks on Watene’s grave site corresponded with bricks at Hyde’s Tuatapere home because of wallpaper and paint, Shandley said.

Shandley told Graham that Hyde had made a statement to police that he visited her house on April 16, 2020 [when Watene was last seen].

Graham replied she could not remember.

Shandley is expected to be crossexamined on Monday when the trial continues.

Yesterday, crown witness Geoffrey Miller said he owned the .22 rifle and got it back in May 2020.

Crown prosecutor Mary-Jane Thomas asked if Miller had spoken to Graham in relation to the .22 after Watene’s body had been found.

Graham said she wished she never got the gun, Miller said.

When Miller got the gun back he pointed it at the ground to test fire it, and the gun unexpectedly fired.

Under re-examination Miller said he did not have to cock the gun to fire it when he tested it.

The crown contends Graham shot Watene and organised Hyde to hide the body and evidence. But Graham’s defence told the jury the focus would be on what happened in a brief moment during a domestic struggle, which was a tragic accident.

Watene was found in the Longwood Forest about a month after he was last seen.