A jogger yesterday told a jury of seeing a yellow ute and hearing distressed children at the home of Whangaparaoa murder victim Joanne McCarthy.
Denise Johnson said she almost collided with the "mustardy, yellow, cream-coloured" vehicle as it left the dead woman's driveway in Whangaparaoa Rd, Little Manly.
As the vehicle drove off, she told the court, she heard the distressed crying of children.
Mrs Johnson was giving evidence in the High Court at Auckland in the trial of 32-year-old Travis Burns, who is accused of battering the 33-year-old kindergarten teacher to death with a hammer on November 12, 1998.
The dead woman's infant son, Marcus, and another child she was looking after were spattered in blood.
Mrs Johnson put the time of sighting the vehicle and its sole occupant at 12.50 pm to 12.55 pm.
For months the police investigation focused on locating the yellow ute, but in his opening address to the jury at the start of the trial the Crown Solicitor for Auckland, Simon Moore, said that it was now considered a red herring.
However, cross-examination by Barry Hart and Mike Levett has raised the sighting of the ute in relation to the timing of events surrounding the killing.
Evidence has already been given that Burns was captured on a surveillance video 30km away at the BNZ in Milford at 12.50 pm.
However, the Crown says Joanne McCarthy was killed some time between 11.35 am - when she was last seen alive - and noon.
Mrs Johnson told the court that as she continued her run she saw the ute again 150m to 200m away at Little Manly Beach.
She saw a man hurrying towards the toilets, but did not know if it was the vehicle's driver.
Earlier, bank officer Gail Aldred said the man she spoke to just before 1 pm at the Milford BNZ did not appear nervous, concerned or worried.
The trial before Justice Chambers continues today.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.