Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Murder accused says he was framed

Nikki Preston
By Nikki Preston
Bay of Plenty Times·
4 May, 2016 02:00 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A 62-year-old man is accused of stabbing to death a friend after they shared a roast dinner and sank a couple of bottles of wine and whisky at his home.

Anthony Ballantyne, 62, is before the High Court at Hamilton, charged with the murder of 76-year-old Ivan Peter Kapluggin in Whangamata on February 3 last year.

In his opening statement yesterday morning, Crown solicitor Ross Douch laid out the events of the evening which ended in a call from Ballantyne to 111 at 1.26am on February 3, saying Mr Kapluggin was lying dead in his hallway surrounded by a large pool of blood.

Mr Kapluggin arrived from Thailand on February 2 and was collected by his brother David from Auckland Airport before he met his friend Ballantyne at the BP service station in Waihi. He would be staying with his friend at his Achilles Ave home in Whangamata.

Read more: Community saddened by glider pilot's death

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

UK passport-holder Mr Kapluggin lived two hours from Bangkok with his Thai wife and he was in New Zealand to sell a rental property he owned in Waikino.

Mr Douch said once back at Mr Ballantyne's home in Whangamata, the two had dinner together on the deck and drank two bottles of New Zealand wine, Glenfiddich whisky Mr Kapluggin had picked up duty-free and some of Ballantyne's own whisky.

Ballantyne told police he went to bed at 9.30pm and woke after 1am to find Mr Kapluggin dead.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

After dialling 111, the accused couldn't answer the operator when she asked him his name; he just kept repeating that there was "blood everywhere".

The five recordings while he waited for police to arrive were played to the jury in the first day of the trial.

"I woke up. There's a dead body beside me. My friend, he's dead," a clearly distraught Ballantyne told the operator.

"I just woke up and he's dead. Blood everywhere. Blood everywhere."

Read more: New boss for Tourism Bay of Plenty

The accused originally told police interviewers he had no memory of the events leading to the death, but months later sent letters to police and other residents he believed were involved claiming some of his memory had returned and that he had been framed.

He named the killer as a Whangamata resident he occasionally cared for who had Parkinson's disease, and claimed he was framed by him and a young man living in the area.

However, Mr Douch claimed the information in the letters did not stack up and believes evidence including Mr Kapluggin's blood on the deck and smeared on a door showed signs of a struggle.

Mr Kapluggin was found with an 8cm chop wound on his head, a cut behind his left ear lobe, a stab wound on his neck, two stab wounds on his back and multiple cuts along the inside of his fingers described as defence wounds.

A knife was found under Mr Kapluggin's body and a meat cleaver with diluted blood found in the sink, but Mr Douch said no fingerprints were found on the weapons.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"If they were used, what you can say ladies and gentlemen is the killer did not leave any clues."

Ballantyne sat in the dock with his head bowed and fought back tears as his calls to the police 111 call centre were played to the jury.

Defence lawyer Thomas Sutcliffe told the jury it was up to them to decide whether his client killed Mr Kapluggin or whether it was somebody else and whether there was intent to kill.

Justice Tim Brewer urged the jury to keep an open mind until the end of the trial and hold no prejudice.

He said the jurors could talk to each other about the case, but no one else.

The jury is made up of seven women and five men. The trial has been set for two weeks.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

live
Bay of Plenty Times

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins

11 Jul 08:08 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins
live

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins

11 Jul 08:08 PM

The North Island is expected to get off to a wet start this morning, with lingering rain.

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP