Police negligence claim over Maihi-Carroll murder to go ahead

Chattrice Maihi-Carroll was found dead in her home in Napier in January 2008. Photo / Supplied

A claim of Police negligence by a Napier man accused of murder in 2008 will go to trial, the High Court has ruled.

Associate Judge Warwick Smith dismissed a portion of the claim relating to Police negligence before Zion King was charged, but the rest of the claim will go ahead.

King alleged Police were negligent in charging him with the murder of Chattrice Maihi-Carroll and proceeding with his prosecution despite a lack of reliable evidence.

"The allegations of negligence in respect of the period after Mr King was charged are to go forward to trial," the judge said in his decision.

King's claim related to the reliability of a key witness and the evidence of an ESR scientist on DNA evidence found at the scene.

Chattrice Maihi-Carroll, in her 40s, was found dead in her home on Cottrell Cres, Napier, in January 2008.

The mother of four was naked and had been stabbed several times.

There was a suggestion the killing may have been sexually motivated.

King, one of her neighbours, was initially arrested and charged in relation to the murder.

However, after 16 months in prison, he was released in 2010 after a High Court judge dismissed the murder charge when prosecution lawyers admitted there was not enough evidence to go ahead with a trial.

The case has remained cold ever since and King has been seeking compensation for his time inside.

Maihi-Carroll's murder was also the subject of an episode on TVNZ's Sensing Murder programme last year.

The programme showed Maihi-Carroll's body had accidentally been cleaned before authorities could take any potential swabs of evidence from it.