In-depth look at Lundy case

Wednesday, 9 October 2013

The Privy Council's decision on Mark Lundy's convictions is the latest turning point in a 13-year saga that began on August 30, 2000, when the battered bodies of Christine and Amber Lundy were discovered. A Palmerston North jury decided Mark Lundy was responsible. Jimmy Ellingham reports.

The missing document

One of Privy Council justices described it as a 'revelation' and it jolted one of the key planks in the Crown case against Mark Lundy.

Just before the three-day appeal against his convictions began at the Privy Council in London, a report was given to Lundy's legal team, headed by Kiwi expat David Hislop, QC.

Eleven years after Lundy's jury trial in Palmerston North, the report had never been seen by any of his lawyers.

It contained neuropathologist Dr Heng Teoh's opinion about the reliability of human tissue samples taken from a polo shirt found in Lundy's car.

Dr Teoh thought the samples had degenerated to such an extent that Lundy, now 54, should not be convicted on the tissue evidence alone.

The Crown argued that the officer in charge of the murder inquiry, Detective Inspector Ross Grantham, had mentioned talking to Dr Teoh in a notebook entry supplied to the trial defence team, so was not 'suppressing' the information.

At the trial, defence expert witnesses did not question the science used to identify the tissue as brain matter. Mr Hislop said such a 'concession' should not have been made.

'While that concession is understandable, one would, at the very least, raise an eyebrow, especially if [defence lawyer Mike Brehrens, QC] was armed with Dr Heng Teoh's report.'

The Crown case

The jury that convicted Lundy in 2002 took less than seven hours to return its guilty verdicts.

In doing so the six men and six women, after hearing seven weeks of evidence, agreed that on August 29, 2000, Lundy must have been down Wellington way for business and somehow made his way home.

His daughter Amber, 7, was to have Pippins that night, but that was cancelled. She and her mother Christine, 38, Lundy's wife of 17 years, bought McDonald's for dinner at 5.43pm.

By then Amber had already called Lundy on his cellphone, about 5.30pm.

He spoke to Christine, too, in an eight-minute call records show he made from the Petone area.

The Crown said Lundy told Christine, a night owl, to forget about watching Shortland Street and get to bed for sex. He then hit the road on a whirlwind 150-kilometre-long northern dash.

At 6.56pm Christine had a 'short … very to the point' phone conversation with a friend.

Shortly after, the Crown said, Lundy arrived at their Karamea Cres home, killed Christine and then killed Amber when she got out of bed to investigate.

Time of death was about 7pm, maybe as late as 7.15pm.

Pathologist James Pang concluded the deaths happened an hour and 10 minutes after the pair ate. He based his findings on their stomach contents.

The Crown said Lundy staged a break-in, cleaned up and ran to his car. At some stage he tampered with the home computer to make it look like it shut down at 10.52pm.

Witness Margaret Dance, who attracted sniggers in the court when she spoke of her psychic powers, reported seeing a hefty man dressed in a wig running near the corner of Rhodes and Hillcrest drives.

The Crown said Lundy jumped in his car and sped back to Petone, where cellphone records place him at 8.28pm.

The Crown said paint flecks found in Christine and Amber's wounds matched the orange and blue paint Lundy used to mark his tools.

He was also linked to the scene by two spots of human tissue found on the polo shirt, along with Christine's DNA.

Texan pathologist Rodney Miller used a technique known as immunohistochemistry, or IHC, to identify the human tissue as brain matter. He had tested this technique on a chicken.

Later on August 29, Lundy called a prostitute about 11.30pm. He was with her for about an hour.

The Crown said this was a cynical attempt at creating an alibi.

The defence

Mr Behrens and fellow lawyer Steve Winter did not question Dr Pang's conclusions about the time of death.

Rather they concluded that Mr Lundy could not have done it in the time frame argued by the Crown.

Instead of questioning Dr Miller's evidence, the defence said the brain matter got on Lundy's shirt through contamination, possibly deliberately.

The High Court also heard evidence that lights were seen on at the Lundy house about 11pm.

'That light was not on in the morning. Who turned it off?' asked Mr Behrens in his closing speech to the jury.

He called Ms Dance's evidence unreliable.

The jury didn't agree.

On March 20, 2002, Lundy was sentenced to a minimum 17 years in jail, subsequently increased by the Court of Appeal to 20 years.

He is due for parole in early 2021.

The appeal

Lundy's small and dedicated group of supporters continued working behind the scenes and through their public website Factual (For Amber and Christine - Truth Uncovered About Lundys), which discusses doubts about the case.

In 2009, Lundy's then legal team announced an appeal was 'imminent'.

Nothing happened for three years until Mr Hislop filed Privy Council appeal papers last November. In February, law lords said they would hear the case.

During the three-day hearing in June, the Crown stood by the verdicts.

Mr Hislop questioned Dr Miller's science. His IHC identification method had never been used in that way before. In fact it was so rare the defence team could only find one other example of its use in a criminal matter.

Experts consulted by Mr Hislop thought the technique was nothing more than an experiment, and statements from experts said the tissue was in too poor a state to be identified.

Other experts cast doubt on Dr Pang's stomach contents conclusions and evidence from police computer analyst Maarten Kleintjes that Lundy had tampered with the computer.

Mr Hislop said the computer could have been affected by a virus.

He repeated Mr Behrens' concerns about Ms Dance's evidence and said the motive put by the Crown - that Lundy was in financial difficulty and murdered for insurance money - didn't stack up.

That one of Lundy's tools might have been used as a murder weapon - which has never been found - did not place him at the scene. 

Defence lawyers prepare bail bid

Mark Lundy's legal team is working to free him from prison on bail with his sister and brother-in-law in Taihape.

Caryl and Dave Jones have stood by Lundy during his 12 1/2 years in jail and have now offered him a roof if the High Court decides it is appropriate.

Lundy's lawyers are working on a bail application.

'I don't know when the hearing will be. I wish we did,' Mr Jones said.

He and his wife yesterday visited a 'pretty happy' and 'relaxed' Lundy in Rangipo Prison, where a few tears were shed.

'There's a big weight been taken off his shoulders. He's been quite nervous about the process and I know he's happy.'

Mrs Jones read out a statement to TV3 from Lundy.

'Thirteen years ago I believed in the truth, the police, and the justice system,' he said.

'Today I believe in the truth, and I am very happy the Privy Council could see it.'

Lundy rang Mr Jones and his wife just after he got off the phone to London.

The news of Lundy's Privy Council triumph has brought back unsettling memories for a former classmate and neighbour of Amber Lundy, who thought his experience of that time was behind him.

Jeremiah Saua, who was 7 years-old when Amber, also 7, and her mother Christine were bludgeoned to death in their Karamea Cres home on August 29, 2000.

Mr Saua still lives with his parents in the same house opposite 30 Karamea Cres, and although he can't remember Amber, he remembers the reaction when the killings took place.

The murders had an affect on Mr Saua, and he did not want to have to deal with it again.

'It just showed there are some cruel people, that sometimes you've got to expect the unexpected.'

Young mother Laura Pedersen said there would be anger, while street newcomer Jahwsa Brown was unaware the killings had taken place so close to her home.

Thinking about it was 'really scary', she said.

Palmerston North Mayor Jono Naylor said he did not believe the decision would have a negative impact on the city's image, but it would aid in 'retraumatisation' of those who were close to Christine and Amber Lundy.

'Something like this reopens a whole lot of old wounds for people. This will be an unpleasant experience for our community.'

Memories of the tragedy had never really gone away, but Mr Naylor had thought the murder 'was behind us'.

Mr Naylor said there would undoubtedly be speculation about Lundy's guilt, but he hoped the community would be mindful of the feelings of those most closely connected with the case.