Suicide quip revealed during day of secrecy

By Alison Horwood and Eugene Bingham

The judge in the Scott Watson double-murder trial drew a cloak of secrecy over the majority of the evidence presented to the court yesterday.

Justice Heron granted interim suppression of the testimony given by three crown witnesses in the High Court at Wellington. Their names were suppressed, as was his directive to the jury about the evidence.

The two men and one woman gave their evidence during a day of repeated breaks, with the judge asking to see counsel in chambers.

The court heard from a witness who was moored near Watson's boat in Shakespeare Bay in Picton.

Andrew Averill said Watson picked up a length of fishing line and told him he was going to use it to "top himself" the day police impounded his boat, Blade.

On January 12, 1998, Mr Averill was with his 7-year-old son in his shed at Picton when Watson turned up in an agitated state.

"He said something like, 'Have you got a knife?' and then picked up a hammer. He picked up a stool and hefted it around and was looking out the door of the shed," said Mr Averill.

Watson, Mr Averill and his son were walking back to Shakespeare Bay when Mr Averill noticed something sticking out of Watson's pocket. It was a 1m-long piece of thick fishing twine, he said.

"I said 'What are you going to do with it?' He said, 'I'm going to top myself'."

At that point, Mr Averill told his son to go home ahead of them. "I was concerned about him feeling intimidated by him."

Watson told him not to worry, he was not going to do anything.

When the men arrived at Shakespeare Bay, Watson's boat was gone.

Mr Averill said the men sat in the sand and spent about an hour talking, including a conversation about prison.

"I remember saying something like, 'You are a silly bugger if you did it Scott. You had a lot going for you.' He had it together, the guy wasn't anybody's fool."

The next day, Mr Averill heard a dinghy approaching his boat. "I called out 'Is that you Scott?' He told me to be quiet and kept rowing towards me."

Watson wanted to come aboard, but Mr Averill told him to go away. He had been harassed by television reporters and was in a bad mood, he told Watson.

Mr Averill said Watson told him not to say anything. As he got off the boat he said 'You know nothing, in a fiery way,' he told the court.

Earlier in his evidence, Mr Averill said he remembered Watson telling him that police were calling people in the area to go to the station. At that stage, in early January, Mr Averill said he asked Watson in a "half-joking way" about the disappearance of Olivia and Ben.

"I heard they were missing and I made some lurid comment, like, 'Did you rape them, Scott?'"

When asked by crown prosecutor Paul Davison, QC, about Watson's response, he said: "I would have said he was taken back by it."

Mr Davison: Did he say something in answer?

Mr Averill: He said, 'I wouldn't do a thing like that.'

When asked about the tone of his response, Mr Averill said Watson was serious.

On another occasion, Mr Averill said, Watson rowed past his boat and chatted after being interviewed by the police.

"He said the police had been stabbing the finger at him, saying, 'You are the one that did it'."

Mr Averill said to him: "I hope there is nothing on your boat that is going to get you in trouble."

His response was: "No, there is nothing."

Under cross-examination, defence counsel Mike Antunovic quizzed Mr Averill about Watson's mood on the day his boat was seized.

Mr Antunovic: He was depressed and upset about his boat being taken, that sort of thing?

Mr Averill: Yes. I would also say he was slightly agitated.