Defence raises alternative theory

By Alison Horwood and Eugene Bingahm

WELLINGTON - An alternative theory that Olivia Hope and Ben Smart fell into the clutches of two men whose boat arrived at Furneaux Lodge after dark has been raised in the High Court at Wellington.

Defence counsel Mike Antunovic put to Detective Bruce McLachlan that police may have overlooked a boat that came into Endeavour Inlet for the party on New Year's Eve 1997 and crept out before dawn.

He was challenging Detective McLachlan's evidence that police had systematically worked through the 113 boats moored there at midnight and eliminated all but Scott Watson's sloop, Blade.

Detective McLachlan said it was possible a boat could have gone unnoticed by the other boaties if it had anchored on its own, did not use the water taxi service and was outside a 300m radius from the jetty.

Police had used the evidence of water taxi driver Guy Wallace and his two remaining passengers to deduce that the boat Olivia and Ben disappeared on was within several hundred metres of the jetty and rafted to two or three others.

Mr Antunovic: Say a vessel did come in just after dark some time with maybe two males on board. They came ashore in their own tender. One of them went back later using the tender and the second one might have returned on a Furneaux Lodge Naiad.

Detective McLachlan: That is a possibility.

Mr Antunovic: The water taxi drivers may not know anything about that vessel, except for the one [driver] who took the man back to his boat, such as, for instance, Guy Wallace. You agree with that?

Detective McLachlan: The problem remains as to the area the boat was either anchored or rafted.

The Crown says Watson murdered Olivia and Ben after the trio were dropped at Blade by Mr Wallace some time after 4 am on January 1. Watson, aged 28, denies the two charges of murder.

In his second day in the witness box, Detective McLachlan said it would be difficult to sneak into the inlet unnoticed because some skippers chose not to go ashore.

"In excess of 370 people spent the night on their boats. That is a great number of eyes, if you like, who would have seen or could talk about this mystery boat arriving after dark."

Mr Antunovic asked Detective McLachlan why police ditched Mr Wallace's description of a ketch, but chose to follow up other aspects of his evidence.

Detective McLachlan said the inquiry team had realised Mr Wallace may have been mistaken about the description of the yacht, but other evidence such as the distance from the jetty and the boats it was rafted to was supported by his passengers.

As well, Mr Wallace and Furneaux staff had carried out their own reconstruction of the journey and provided police with a videotape that showed where he thought the drop-off had been. The tape was shown to the jury.

Detective McLachlan said police were still prepared to follow up sightings of any ketches, and had even followed some up during the trial.

There were about 700 sightings of ketches in the Marlborough Sounds and surrounding areas. Police tried to identify each one, but he admitted they had not been able to track some down.

Earlier, crown prosecutor Paul Davison, QC, asked Detective McLachlan about the evidence of Ted Walsh, who had told the court he also saw a ketch in the inlet that night.

"Mr Walsh was spoken to at the time and did indicate there was a boat of that nature 300 to 400m to the south of the jetty through to Barbecue Pt, although there were various ... well, the location seemed to change a wee bit," said Detective McLachlan.

"We concentrated our efforts in that area and people that passed through the area and no [other] person talked of seeing a boat of that nature."