Son testifies against father in murder trial

Cary Grant Thurgood is charged with murdering Leanne Kingston. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A son has given evidence against his own father, accused of the murder of a mother of four.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, yesterday told the court he recognised a pair of blood-stained trackpants as belonging to his father - the same pants the Crown says the mother's killer wore.

The 17-year-old gave evidence via closed-circuit television at the High Court in Auckland where his father, Cary Grant Thurgood, is on trial for the murder of Leanne Kingston.

The boy's name and that of his siblings have been suppressed by Justice Mark Cooper.

He was shown a photo of the bloodied black trackpants which police found in a rubbish bag inside a skip, behind Finn McCool's Irish bar where his father worked as a chef.

Crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb asked the teenager if he recognised the pants and underwear.

"Yes I do. Dad always wore those to do lawn mowing," he said.

Earlier Environmental Science and Research (ESR) scientist Dianne Crenfeldt told the court that when she examined the pants they were heavily bloodstained and had gone stiff around the knees.

Her colleague, Heidi Baker, said the pants tested positive to Ms Kingston's DNA.

The teen witness also recognised a knife which the Crown has said was one of the weapons used to kill Ms Kingston.

He said there was a set of knives in the family's kitchen that appeared similar to the one in the photograph.

The boy described his father as "happy" just hours before Ms Kingston was found murdered in her Papakura home. "He was fine. There was nothing unusual, no."

The court also heard from a workmate of Thurgood's who left a threatening message on Ms Kingston's phone.

Augustine Gwynne was the bar manager at Finn McCool's and worked with Thurgood for about a year. She said Ms Kingston would sometimes stop by the pub with her children and would often phone.

She told the court his relationship with Ms Kingston was "not on the best of terms".

She had overheard him fighting with Ms Kingston on the phone but had tried to "stay out of it".

She said two months before Ms Kingston was found dead, Thurgood had asked her to leave a threatening message on Ms Kingston's phone.

"At first I said 'no'. I didn't want to get involved, but he was constantly asking, asking, asking and eventually - to stop him from asking me - I made the phone call."

She said Thurgood gave her a piece of paper with written instructions on what to say.

Ms Gwynne, pretending to be the wife of Ms Kingston's boyfriend, told Ms Kingston to stay away from her husband or "something terrible will happen".

The trial continues next week.

Mother's killing
* Leanne Kingston was found stabbed and beaten in her home on August 10 last year.
* Ms Kingston, 39, was a triplet and the mother of four children.
* Her estranged partner, Cary Grant Thurgood, has been charged with her murder. He denies the charge.
* Thurgood originally blamed his son for the murder and said he had cleaned up the scene. He has since pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice.