Murder accused says he confessed out of fear

Dean Mulligan. Photo / Wanganui Chronicle

The man accused of killing Marice McGregor has told the jury at his High Court trial that he isn't her killer, and only confessed because he was threatened.

Dean Mulligan is on trial in the High Court at Whanganui for the murder of Ms McGregor, whose body was recovered on May 13 last year from a ravine at what is known as Whiskey Corner off State Highway 4, 50km north of Whanganui.

The Crown alleges Ms McGregor was killed by three blows to the head with an iron bar.

Mulligan, 43, has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Mulligan described watching another man kill the sickness beneficiary in front of him in bush near Whanganui.

Mulligan told the jury that when they got to the bottom of the hill another man was there and he and Ms McGregor were fighting about money before the man hit her over the head with a pole three or four times.

He says the man and an accomplice both threatened to hurt him and his family.

Mulligan says the accomplice then raped him and forced him to give oral sex.

At this stage in his evidence Mulligan's brother and the head detective walked out of the courtroom.

Mulligan will continue to give evidence tomorrow.

This morning, the jury was played video footage of Mulligan's interview with Detective David Burmeister, made after he was arrested and transported back to Whanganui.

In it, Mulligan said he "flew into a rage" after an argument with Ms McGregor and in that moment formed the intention to hit her and kill her, but had not planned to hit her when they visited the ravine.

He said he was sick and tired of doing things behind his wife's back and of being blackmailed by Ms McGregor, whom he said just before her death threatened to follow him home and tell his wife about their relationship.

The court also heard from Detective Senior Sergeant Neil Forlong, the officer in charge of the case, who told the jury he had been given a note from Mulligan two weeks before the trial started containing the names of two men he claimed were responsible for Ms McGregor's death.

The letter identified two alternative names - one a primary offender and one an assistant.

Inquiries into the names had been unsuccessful.

One did not appear to exist and the other, one of 10 possibilities, did not match the description given, Mr Forlong said.

In his opening statements at the beginning of the trial, defence counsel Stephen Ross said Mulligan would take the stand to give evidence in his defence, to tell the court he did not kill Ms McGregor.

"In his evidence he will tell you the name of the person who killed her, the person who was responsible for her death. This person was an associate of Marice," Mr Ross said.

Mulligan had only confessed to police out of fear for the safety of his wife and children and that he "wove a tissue of lies".

- NEWSTALK ZB, WANGANUI CHRONICLE