A woman jailed for the brutal murder of her elderly mother in her Wellington home is appealing her conviction and sentence.
Julia DeLuney was sentenced last month to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of at least 18 years for killing 79-year-old Helen Gregory.
At her trial in the High Court at Wellington earlier this year, the Crown suggested DeLuney had killed Gregory over money.
The 53-year-old school teacher turned cryptocurrency trader was found guilty by a jury of murder, with the Crown alleging she had struck Gregory around the head multiple times with a heavy object, then staged the scene to look like a violent home invasion.
At trial, the jury heard how DeLuney was living outside her means, spending more money than she appeared to be making based on bank records. She was spending large sums of cash on cryptocurrency and had allegedly taken money from Gregory to do so.
Gregory was known for stashing thousands of dollars in hiding places throughout her house, including her freezer.
DeLuney visited Gregory’s home on the evening of January 24 last year to book tickets to the ballet in celebration of her upcoming 80th birthday.
At some stage during the three and a half hours DeLuney was there, she violently attacked her mother with a heavy object, thought to be a vase, leaving her dead or dying. The vase has never been found.
She left the house at 9.45pm, after staging the scene to make it look like her mother had fallen from the attic, only to return 90 minutes later with her husband Antonio, who called emergency services.
The defence case was that DeLuney was not responsible for her mother’s death and someone else had come into the home in the short window of time she was out and committed the murder.
It can now be reported that DeLuney is appealing both her conviction and sentence. A registrar at the Court of Appeal in Wellington confirmed they had received notice of the appeal.
Christchurch lawyer Kerry Cook told NZME he was acting for DeLuney on the appeal.
“I have no comment to make given the matter is before the court,” he said.
At sentencing, Justice Peter Churchman said the most likely explanation for the killing was that DeLuney’s actions in defrauding her mother of substantial sums of money were about to be uncovered.
He said that given DeLuney’s denials, it was left to experts to determine what happened that night. Those experts supported a conclusion that DeLuney struck her mother 10 times, with a blunt instrument, most likely the vase.
“You bludgeoned with the vase repeatedly, while she was helpless on the floor,” Justice Churchman said.
DeLuney inflicted 75 separate injuries on her mother, including a skull fracture and two fractures to her face. The blood splatter was similar to that inflicted by a gunshot wound.
She’d then staged the scene to make it look like Gregory had fallen from the attic.
In giving his reasons for a minimum sentence of 18 years, Justice Churchman said it was a prolonged and frenzied attack.
It involved a high degree of callousness and would have taken Gregory by surprise.
“She would have been terrified,” he said.
He said Gregory, who wore a wrist brace and lived alone, was particularly vulnerable and was killed in her home, where she should have felt safe.
Instead of calling for help, DeLuney left her mother, dead or dying on the floor, driving 40 minutes each way, with a 20-minute stop at her house in Kāpiti, with several changes of clothes.
During the trip, she’d also concealed evidence, with the judge noting the vase and the jeans DeLuney was thought to have worn that night have never been found. Instead, DeLuney gave police a different pair of jeans.
The court also heard that DeLuney disagreed with the Crown’s version of events and still claimed that her cryptocurrency portfolio was profitable.
That was despite overwhelming evidence from financial experts to the contrary. That evidence showed DeLuney’s crypto investments had been disastrous.
Justice Churchman also noted DeLuney was asking creditors for payment plans, was selling personal items and had used her mother’s money to pay off debts.
The court heard DeLuney had continued to change her version of events, telling a report writer when she went to get help she’d left her mother in a chair, rather than the floor of the spare bedroom, as she’d previously told police.
“Your unwillingness to accept what you have done has put Ms Gregory’s family and friends through the anguish of reliving the events around her death,” Justice Churchman said.
“You could have shown true love for your family, Julia, by showing honesty from the beginning and taking responsibility for your actions.”