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Key Sounds murder witness left suicide note referencing Scott Watson's conviction

Tuesday, 28 February 2023

Guy Wallace, pictured, referenced Scott Watson’s conviction in his suicide note.
Guy Wallace, pictured, referenced Scott Watson’s conviction in his suicide note.

Sounds murder witness Guy Wallace died by suicide and left a note referring to Scott Watson’s conviction for the killings, a coroner says.

Wallace, one of the last people to see Olivia Hope and Ben Smart alive before they disappeared in the Marlborough Sounds on New Year’s Day 1998, was found dead at his Greymouth home on March 22, 2021, by a friend.

He became a virtual household name in 1998 after he was revealed as the crucial witness in the disappearance of Hope, 17, and Smart, 21.

He had driven the Furneaux Lodge water taxi the young couple were seen on when they boarded a yacht with a mystery man.

**READ MORE:

* Scott Watson wants crucial identification evidence to be reconsidered in new appeal

* Scott Watson refused bail to help lawyers with appeal against convictions for Hope and Smart murders

* Sounds murderer Scott Watson applies for bail ahead of appeal

Wallace was a key witness at the murder trial of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope.
Wallace was a key witness at the murder trial of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope.

**

Watson was convicted of killing the pair and was jailed for a minimum of 17 years. He remains behind bars, having been denied parole three times.

At trial, Wallace identified Watson as being the mystery man, in what was a crucial part of the Crown’s case.

Watson was convicted of the Sounds murders.
Watson was convicted of the Sounds murders.

He later recanted his identification, saying Watson was not the man on the water taxi, and had been wrongly convicted.

The 55-year-old Wallace died days before he was scheduled to stand trial on sex charges. He had been arrested in 2019 and charged with four counts of indecent assault on a girl under 16.

The alleged offending happened between 2010 and 2013.

Guy Wallace, a key witness in the Sounds murder case, died days before he was due to stand trial for indecently assaulting a young girl. (First published May 2021)

Wallace had pleaded not guilty to the charges and elected a judge-alone trial.

In findings released on Tuesday, coroner Alexandra Cunninghame found Wallace was experiencing “a number of stressors” at the time of his death, including the pending trial and the separation from his ex-wife. He also had to move out of the Greymouth home he had once shared with his wife once the trial began.

Since Wallace became a household name in 1999 during Watson’s trial, his personal life was “highly publicised”, the coroner said.

By 2016, Wallace had been diagnosed with stage three tonsillar cancer, and was unable to work or pay the mortgage on his house in Waikawa Bay. He moved to Greymouth with his wife a year later.

In 2018, a woman told police Wallace had sexually assaulted her. Criminal charges were laid, and the trial was set down for March 29, 2021.

Following the allegations, Wallace’s wife moved out of their Greymouth home in July 2019. She obtained a protection order against him after she said his behaviour had changed, and she had become afraid of him.

Wallace received mental health support periodically after the separation for low mood and depression.

Wallace was the water taxi driver who delivered Smart and Hope to a yacht in Endeavour Inlet early on New Year’s Day 1998.
Wallace was the water taxi driver who delivered Smart and Hope to a yacht in Endeavour Inlet early on New Year’s Day 1998.

In February 2020, he was convicted of breaching the protection order, which made national news after his links to the Watson case were revealed.

During the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, Wallace stopped paying the mortgage on the Greymouth property. His ex-wife offered to let him buy her out of the property or sell the house.

Wallace did not respond, so the ex-wife proceeded to take legal action against him.

Wallace was ordered to vacate the property within four days of March 11, 2021, but refused and asked to stay until after the trial.

Four days before he died, Wallace received permission to stay in the property until the start of the trial on March 29.

On March 18, Wallace went to a friend’s house to watch television before the pair travelled into Greymouth. The friend said Wallace seemed “as cheerful as anything”.

At 5.17am the next day, Wallace sent a text message police described as “fairly incoherent”.

Wallace’s friend called him on March 21 to see if he wanted to catch up, but no-one answered. He noticed Wallace’s car was parked at his house, and thought someone else may have picked him up.

His friend tried to call him a day later and went to his house to check on him when he didn’t answer his phone. He found Wallace dead.

Police located a handwritten note addressed to Wallace’s father and a will. The note included denials of sexual allegations made against him and referred to his views on Watson’s conviction.

The note was dated March 19, 2021, leading the coroner to assume his death happened “on or about” that date.

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