No third trial in murder mystery

A man walked free from a murder charge in a classic whodunnit yesterday after the Solicitor-General refused to allow the case to proceed to a third trial.

Grant Wills, 57, was charged with the brutal killing of his former de facto wife's lover, Somwes Suksabai, 29, at a Henderson house in March 2003.

He was accused of attacking Mr Suksabai and his (Wills') former partner, Suwapa Kampan, 37, as they slept.

Wills was tried twice for the murder of Mr Suksabai and the attempted murder of Ms Kampan (or alternatively of wounding her with intent to cause grievous bodily harm) but on each occasion the jury was hung.

Yesterday in the High Court at Auckland prosecutor Aaron Perkins said that the Solicitor-General had ordered a stay on any further prosecution. Justice Mark Cooper said that as a consequence, Wills was free to leave.

Wills left the court grinning broadly, and shook hands with his lawyer, John Corby.

He refused to talk about the case except to say that he was "very relieved" at the decision.

In his first trial Wills was represented by Peter Winter and in the second this month by a team led by Stuart Grieve, QC.

It was a classic whodunnit, with Wills and Ms Kampan each claiming the other was the murderer.

The case was relatively finely balanced, and the Crown could not persuade the jury beyond reasonable doubt that Wills was the killer.

Wills was said to have attacked the pair with a heavy stone cooking pestle in their bed.

He claimed that Ms Kampan was the real killer, and that her injuries were caused during a violent argument with the dead man.

The Crown said that Wills was lying when he said that Mr Suksabai was able to move around for some hours after being attacked.

A pathologist told the jury that an injury to the brain-stem was highly likely to have rendered him unconscious immediately.

The defence queried why Ms Kampan did not flee when Wills left the house for up to 45 minutes, why she did not telephone for help and why she did not activate an alarm.

She told the jury she feared Wills might come back to finish her off, she did not know how to use the alarm and the internet had tied up the phone line.