KEY POINTS:
The property developer accused of kidnapping his former business partner yesterday countered the Crown's implication that he had got rid of a potentially important piece of evidence by suggesting the police lost it.
Richard Kroon says he last saw his computer the night before armed police arrived at
his Remuera home to execute a search warrant. He accompanied police to his office where material was also seized under the warrant.
Kroon, who with Craig Hamish Weller is accused of kidnapping Kim Spencer on 16 November, 2004, at Pakiri north of Auckland, told the Auckland District Court yesterday that police were concerned that his computer was not in his office.
"The policeman seemed to find it difficult that I would have taken it home that [previous] night," Kroon told his lawyer Paul Davison, QC. Kroon said he had taken the computer home to be picked up for servicing and he had assumed the police had seized it with other items from the property.
He had realised it was missing when only his wife's computer was among seized items returned by the police and made a complaint about it, he said.
The Crown alleges two documents - capable of netting Kroon about $2.5 million that Spencer was forced to sign during the kidnapping were drawn up by Kroon on his computer and backdated.
Prosecutor Ross Burns suggested to Kroon that he got rid of the computer during a 10-minute period when he was out of sight of police at the Chancery precinct where the offices of Kroon and his solicitor are located.
Kroon told the court he accompanied police from his home to the Chancery and first took them to his lawyer's office. Finding them locked, he went down the stairs alone to a cafe where he found his lawyer, Andrew Macdonald, having breakfast.
Kroon denied Mr Burns' suggestion that he had gone to his office, got his computer out of harm's way and then found Mr Macdonald. Kroon said there were security systems and people in the office police could have checked with.
Mr Burns: "The evidence of the police is that you were not seen for 10 minutes."
Kroon: "I'm aware they claim that but I believe it was closer to five minutes."
Mr Burns: "And you still have no idea where the computer is?" - "No."
The court has heard that Weller is a member of The Mothers motorcycle club and that Kroon is associated with some members. Kroon said he did not know Weller well and had last seen him two or three years ago.
Kroon said he had told Spencer of his link to the club and of visits he had made to Russia.
Mr Spencer told police that one of four men present during the alleged kidnapping spoke in a language he thought to be Russian.
Earlier, Kroon's lawyer used a High Court decision relating to Mr Spencer's bankruptcy in 1998 to demonstrate Mr Spencer's evidence should be treated as unreliable.
In the earlier case one of the issues that arose was whether $207,000 Mr Spencer had given to his future wife, Susan Hamilton, was legitimately held or should be recovered by the official assignee, Mr Davison said.
Mr Spencer had claimed he paid the money in cash to a Mr Church in Gore but Mr Church gave evidence that he did not receive the money.
Mr Davison: "And ... the judge's decision was your story was ... rejected and Mr Church's accepted and you were treated as unreliable and unworthy of belief." - "I agree I went to court for it."
Kroon yesterday described Mr Spencer's kidnapping allegation as "complete nonsense".
The trial continues before Judge David Wilson, QC, and a jury.
