Gail Maney finally acquitted in Gone Fishing case

Wednesday, 2 October 2024

“Now I’m free.”

Those were some of the first words Gail Maney said today after she was finally acquitted of a murder she always denied.

The Court of Appeal this afternoon quashed the mother-of-five’s conviction for ordering the killing of Deane Fuller-Sandys in 1989, accepting she was a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

It also quashed the convictions of Stephen Stone for murdering Fuller-Sandys, and for raping and murdering Leah Stephens, but ordered a retrial for him.

The court also acquitted two other people police alleged were involved as accessories after the crime - Maney’s brother Colin, and Mark Henriksen.

In acquitting Gail Maney, the court accepted the case against her had collapsed.

“Here, there is no evidence at all against Ms Maney, let alone credible evidence.

“In our assessment, the principles of finality and the interests of justice require the case against Ms Maney to be brought to a conclusion.”

This meant the 57-year-old was acquitted, would not face a third trial, and was free from her life parole conditions.

Maney told The Post she had never given up hope this day would come, even as she spent 16 years in prison, and she was thrilled everyone’s convictions had been quashed.

“To put it simply, this didn’t happen, and we’re all innocent.

And that’s what I’ve fought for, because this has been wrong on every single level, it’s been crazy.“

Maney paid tribute to the lawyers, investigators and journalists who’d helped her fight for freedom, but noted the huge impact it had had on her life.

“My children have suffered a lot. They lost each other, they lost their home, their mother - it’s horrible.”

She was now able to make decisions in her life and could travel overseas for the first time.

“I want to do more adventures in my life.

“I’m not bitter and twisted and angry, because I’ve grown a lot as a person and learnt forgiveness, because I don’t want to give those people that wronged me all my power and energy.”

However, her co-accused, Stephen Stone, remains in prison, and whether he is re-tried is now in the hands of Auckland’s Crown Solicitor, who will weigh whether there is sufficient evidence for him to face a jury again.

His lawyers have applied to the High Court for bail this afternoon.

The Court’s reasons for ordering his retrial have been suppressed by the Court of Appeal.

Auckland tyre-fitter Fuller-Sandys, 21, disappeared in August 1989 and was believed to have been swept off rocks while fishing on Auckland’s west coast. His body has never been found.

But in 1996, police heard whispers Fuller-Sandys had been murdered, and, after an investigation led by detective senior sergeant Mark Franklin, arrested Gail Maney and Stephen Stone for the crime.

Their theory was that Fuller-Sandys stole marijuana and leather clothes from Maney’s Larnoch Rd flat, and she hired 19-year-old stripclub bouncer Stone to kill him.

Supposedly, Stone did this in Maney’s suburban garage, during daytime, witnessed by eight other people, with multiple shots fired.

Police also linked the disappearance of 20-year-old Leah Stephens, saying Stephens had seen Fuller-Sandys being murdered, and Stone wanted to stop her talking, so raped and killed her also, at the Larnoch Rd flat.

Her body was found in a shallow grave in Muriwai in 1992.

The case relied on the evidence of four witnesses who eventually claimed they were at the Larnoch Rd garage when Fuller-Sandys was shot, despite their original statements varying wildly.

All were given immunity and name suppression for their testimony.

Maney was found guilty at two trials and lost her appeal in 2005. She served 16 years in prison.

Stone’s appeal was rejected without a hearing, and he remains in prison, after 26 years.

But the case has remained controversial, with interest in it reignited by the Stuff/RNZ podcast Gone Fishing.

Two of the four key police witnesses who claimed to have witnessed Fuller-Sandys’ murder have recanted their evidence, and another told a police officer: “You can f… off back to New Zealand, you c…,” while continually raising his middle finger at the detective, when approached overseas this year.

In July, the Crown conceded a miscarriage of justice had occurred, based on the discovery that two crucial documents detailing police dealings with witnesses who gained immunity, had not been handed over defence lawyers.

The documents suggested police coerced some of the four witnesses to alter their evidence to fit the police narrative - as has always been alleged by Maney and Stone, who insist the witnesses were manipulated and threatened by police.

At a Court of Appeal hearing in August, lawyers for the four convicted said the case against their clients had completely collapsed and they should be acquitted.

The Crown agreed the convictions should be quashed, but argued Maney and Stone should be put on trial again, and said it was doing new DNA testing.