In part five of his series on 2009's big trials, Andrew Koubaridis revisits the night Tony Worrell drove into Katie Powles
A car is not a common murder weapon in New Zealand, where most killers use knives, guns or their fists.
For Katie Powles, though, it was a battered old Nissan Bluebird that cut her young life short. The car was driven by Tony Worrell - a man she didn't even
know - who was suicidal and, the jury believed, also homicidal when he ploughed into her red Mazda 323 at Karaka in South Auckland on June 3, 2008.
Worrell's life was already on a downward spiral as he consumed alcohol and prescription drugs in half-hearted attempts to kill himself in the weeks leading up to the fatal smash.
He had been in and out of hospital and argued with his wife on the day of the crash. She ordered him to leave their Swanson home and he did, packing up his car and setting off.
Worrell had spoken of heading up north to work on fishing boats but that day took a southerly route where his driving became more and more erratic.
During his trial in the High Court at Auckland, drivers on Linwood Rd, the scene of the crash, gave their accounts one by one of seeing him driving on the wrong side of the road and making no effort at all to avoid them.
One of those motorists was Brett Robinson. He was driving his two sons home from soccer training in his Fiat Uno when he saw Worrell's headlights coming straight towards him.
They collided and the Fiat rolled on to its side. Mr Robinson and his sons escaped without major injury but he told the trial he was unable to return to work more than a year after the crash.
Then came Mrs Powles, travelling 22m behind the Fiat. Police said she couldn't have avoided the collision and Worrell didn't brake or swerve.
At the trial he never denied being responsible for killing Mrs Powles. What was in dispute was his intent that day. Did he have murderous intent when he drove into her and was therefore guilty of murder?
He argued no. For evidence he pointed to his plans for the future and disputed the evidence of a motorist who said he heard him say: "I'm going to f***k someone up."
Worrell didn't give evidence but through his lawyer, Matthew Goodwin, raised the possibility he could have slipped into a diabetic coma as he travelled down Linwood Rd.
But the jurors rejected the theory.
They believed he set out to kill someone and was reckless with his actions.
They had heard from crash investigators and the witnesses who told how Worrell didn't deviate from his course and was a man on a mission rather than someone drifting aimlessly across the road without any sense of direction.
He reacted badly when the guilty verdict was read to a courtroom full with mainly Mrs Powles' family - including Darren, her grieving husband of just eight months.
Crying and shaking, with his nose running, the diminutive Worrell suddenly looked even smaller as he was led away by the burly security guards.
Afterwards, the Powles and Robinson families said the only good to come out of the tragedy was their two families had been united - but they would never understand Worrell's selfish act.
He will be sentenced in February.
TONY WORRELL
Where: High Court at Auckland.
When: November.
Charges: Murder, causing grievous bodily harm.
Verdict: Guilty.
Sentence: Yet to be imposed.
