Cold case murder trial: Why John Allison believes his sister killed their father

Gisborne man Ronald Russell Allison died in a house fire at his Whatatutu farmhouse in the early hours of January 25, 2013. Picture supplied by Police

An antagonistic relationship between siblings, threats by phone and text, and a man with a dubious past who slept right through a fatal house fire as it raged only 20 metres from his bed.

Those were some of the key pieces of evidence heard by a jury in the High Court murder trial for Lynne Maree Martin, 63, (previously Tweeddale) on its sixth day in Gisborne on Monday.

The main witness was Martin’s brother, John Bruce Allison, who had worked his whole life on the family farm at Whatatutu and regularly visited his 88-year-old father Russell Allison who lived in a farmhouse on the property.  

It was the house where Russell was burned alive when a fire broke out in the early hours of January 25, 2013.

The frail man, whose hearing, sight, and smell were beginning to fail him, and who relied on a walking frame to get around, could not have escaped the massive blaze. 

Mr Allison, who'd been called to the scene by a fire service friend, said he immediately suspected his sister was responsible for the death.

He had left his father’s house just after midnight, having earlier helped him to bed and given him his regular medication, which included a sleeping pill.

It was something Mr Allison did routinely as not only were he and his father family, but they were also “best buddies, workmates and confidants”, he said.

Just after getting into bed, Russell had told him about a disturbing phone call from Martin earlier that day, Mr Allison said.

He recalled his father saying, “Lynne rang me today and was rather nasty

. . . I told her Uncle Bruce died and that you’d taken me to Thames for the funeral. She’d gone off about the boat again.”

Mr Allison said he understood Martin told his father she was coming to get the boat and all the rest of their mother’s stuff, including the china cabinet.

Russell had objected, saying something to the effect, “No you’re not. You’ve taken enough stuff from this house.”

“To use his (Russell’s) terms, she ‘nutted off’ and became rather abusive and he told me he’d had enough so he hung up on her. My father was the most placid, kind, calm person you could come across so for him to lose it and say that was very unusual,” Mr Allison said.

His father had said Martin was threatening him.

“It raised my hackles and I thought, ‘Oh, here we go again’.”

He told his father they had to take it seriously and step up security, especially the next time they went to town, as they had been leaving the house a little vulnerable. They needed to secure the boat in particular, “because it was about to get plucked again”.

His father’s sleeping pill kicked in so they ran out of time to discuss it further.

Mr Allison said the conversation ended with him saying he would get on to securing the place better the next day.

The Crown alleges the rejection by her father on on January 24, 2013 led the cash-strapped Martin — who had a $10,000 debt to repay — to get in her car and drive to Whatatutu, where she murdered her father by deliberately burning down his house.

In evidence, Mr Allison explained to the jury his father’s will arrangements — how half the farm would be his, the other half sold and the funds distributed to a group of beneficiaries.

Martin was to receive a lump sum of $150,000.

Jurors were shown a change Russell made to his will in November 2010, setting that figure and stating it took into account money Martin had already received.

She had contested the will, ultimately getting a financial benefit of about $325,000.

Mr Allison said there wasn’t enough liquid asset to pay Martin out so he had to get a mortgage to keep his share of the farm — 100 acres then valued at about $770,000.

He had no intention of selling it, having worked on it all his life with the goal of one day running it.

He was the third generation of Allison owners and that heritage was important to him.

He also still had his agricultural and haulage contracting business, which his father had financed him into by lending him $150,000.

He and his sister were adopted. Their childhood on the farm had been a “completely normal healthy lifestyle — no problems”, Mr Allison said.

But their relationship had always been antagonistic and from their early teens the siblings “just couldn’t co-exist really”. Martin left home for Australia when she was 16, staying there for about 20 years but returning to help nurse their mother for about three weeks before her death in 2006 from a terminal illness.

Martin remained living at the house for a short time after her mother’s death before returning to Australia.

Mr Allison said the friction of that situation “caused me to be there for Dad but not to visit in the house as frequently”.

About six months later, Russell went to visit Martin and have a holiday in Australia. However, he got a stomach bug while there and wasn’t able to fly home again until he was well enough. Martin returned with him.

Then items around the house began “systematically disappearing” — especially things from their mother’s china cabinets.

A genuine Samurai sword Russell had brought home from his war service in Japan also vanished.

Mr Allison confronted his sister about it in front of their father, who was upset to hear it was missing.

Trade Me records showed it was sold online for $1033.

During that time Martin allegedly also stepped up her previous efforts to blackmail her father, Mr Allison claimed. She had threatened to accuse him of “molesting” her if he didn’t pay her $150,000.

The threats came as texts, one of which Mr Allison copied to his phone and took to police. He told his father to turn off his phone so he couldn’t receive any more.

When Martin stopped living there, she only returned occasionally for unannounced visits, Mr Allison said.

One day he noticed their father’s 16-foot semi-cabin sea boat had gone. It turned out Martin had sold it for $4000 to a local marine yard.

Mr Allison told the owner to stop the cheque — that Russell didn’t want his boat sold.

Martin “retaliated” by also threatening him with sexual allegations.

Because he knew there was no substance to the allegations, Mr Allison told her to “bring it on”.

She went to police and the two men were interviewed. No charges were laid. Up until January  2013, Mr Allison hadn’t seen his sister again.

Further in evidence on Tuesday he said there was nothing at the house that night that might have caused a fire. He didn’t smell anything unusual, notice any heat or notice anything on the stove.

By the time he left it had been seven hours since Russell’s caregiver had cleaned up after cooking his meal.

Alerted later by a fire service friend that something was wrong at this father’s house, Mr Allison raced in his car to the house.

He used his torch to show fire staff where his father’s bedroom had been. Levelled by the fire, the only thing still standing in that area, was Russell's metal walking frame. 

Russell hadn’t survived. Fire staff couldn’t reach him immediately as overhead power lines to the house had fallen down on the lawn.

Mr Allison said he was “in shock — just standing there lost” — when he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Te Karaka police constable Paul Cleaver ask him, “you all right boy?”

Mr Allison said to Constable Cleaver he needed to talk to him “right now”, then told him about the threats his father had confided in him just a few hours before.

He was then overcome by the realisation that his friend, John Fryer, who was employed for farm work and to keep a general eye on the place, must have been in his house bus at the foot of the hill about 20 metres under the house site, but had not raised any alarm.

“I was banging with my fists on his house bus, swearing at him and saying ‘wake up’.”

Mr Allison said police questioned him numerous times over the next few months. He did not engage a lawyer and was happy to cooperate.

Mr Fryer, 60, who also gave evidence on Tuesday, said he had not been woken by the fire and denied having anything to do with it.

Mr Fryer said he had been a ward of the state and because he had nowhere to go at Christmas times,  was happy when Russell once invited him to share Christmas with them.

He recalled Russell boiling a ham in a pot of fat for the occasion and had worried as Russell struggled to lift it out.

Under cross-examination, Mr Fryer said prison “screws” who knew him from jail time he served before moving to Te Karaka in 2012 could vouch for him being an extremely heavy sleeper.

He confirmed he had also previously claimed when he was 17 or 18 to have slept through a house fire two doors along from him when living in Te Puke.

He was also present at a house fire in Tauranga during the 1970s and had made a formal statement to police afterwards commenting on how loud the noise of it was.

Prosecutors Steve Manning and Clayton Walker allege there is enough circumstantial evidence in the case to prove Martin was the killer.

Her counsel Rachael Adams and Ben Smith, argue there is reasonable doubt.

Justice Helen Cull is presiding.