By Kate Green of RNZ
Julia DeLuney’s diaries, presented as evidence by the Crown during her month-long trial, reveal the highs and lows of cryptocurrency trading, her plans for a Remuera home to retire in, and her grief following the death of her mother.
DeLuney was found guilty of murdering Helen Gregory, 79, at the elderly woman’s home in Baroda St in Khandallah in January last year.
The Crown argued it had been a financially motivated attack, and that DeLuney had been receiving money – or at worst, stealing it – from her mother for at least a year before the murder.
Over the course of the trial, her diaries were presented as evidence of her emotional state and financial struggles.
They contained little reminders and checklists: “car service, pay credit card $10,000, hair tidy up”.
But that sat alongside Bible passages, musings about her future, and some existential questions.
DeLuney had been a teacher until about 15 years ago. In recent years she had turned her hand to trading cryptocurrency.
The court saw photographs of the diary pages, with typed transcriptions alongside.
Some entries contained references to FET, WOO, DXY, buying on red days, selling on green days, Fomo of “green candles” (good trades) and speculation about when the US regulating body would approve the first Bitcoin ETF.
In early December, she wrote: “Bitcoin hit $40,000, waiting for FET to break through.”
Some entries contained Bible passages: “Give back what the locusts have taken away, God, double what he had before! I, Julia, stand for the word of the Lord.”
The Crown pointed to other entries as a sign she had been struggling mentally – like this one in mid-December: “I need to remember how tough and discouraging these past five-six years have been waiting for such a time as this.”
As December passed, her diaries begin to reveal a desire to cash out and step back.
December 16, 2023: “Having a healthy pullback today after a big green week ... Yes, I’m desperately impatient to resume my life after six years of staring at charts. It’s been a terribly traumatic and challenging period of my life. I need to leave this crypto world behind me soon. Please dear lord.”
And on the last day of the year, there was a glimpse into her dreams for the future.
December 31, 2023: “100x from here and we’re out of here! New life begins! Remuera goal for 2024, 10m. Generational family home, pool [...], great kitchen, bathrooms, 4+ bedrooms, beautiful tropical garden.”
The diaries showed how turbulent cryptocurrency trading could be.
One early January day, DeLuney wrote the markets were “waking up” – and the next, “Market crashed. Liquidations everywhere.”
DeLuney’s bank records showed between January 2023 and January 2024, she spent more than $155,000 on cryptocurrency investments.
Cryptocurrency consultant Nicolas Turnbull gave evidence to help the jury understand some of the jargon, but he said there seemed to be “no real structure” to DeLuney’s trading.
“There’s a lot of emotion in it, where if you’re trading, and you’re doing this as a job ... in my professional opinion you need structure, you need risk management.”
And as January wore on, the diaries revealed DeLuney’s increasing disillusionment with trading.
On January 10, she wrote: “It’s been an awful year so far, I’m done. Been trying so hard to crack this but as soon as I think it’s in my reach, it gets taken away – again and again. I can’t keep doing this, I just want a f***ng home and some financial security in old age. It’s obviously not happening. F*** life!”
On January 24, DeLuney visited her mother to book tickets to the ballet.
Her diary entries that day – likely written before she visited her mother that evening – were Bible passages.
“This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118.24
And: “For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4.13
Crown prosecutor Stephanie Bishop told the jury in her closing argument they may never know the details of that evening, but “something happened, something changed” – that led to DeLuney violently assaulting her mother.
The next entry was on January 26, 2024 – two days after her mother’s death.
Alongside a to-do list of funeral arrangements, she quoted Romans 8.28: “For all things work together for good to those who love him and that are called according to his purposes” and Matthew 6.33: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all those things shall be added unto you.”
The funeral took place on February 3 – a “beautiful service”.
“I’m going to miss you forever my one and only darling, beautiful mum, be at rest and in peace with your Lord and savior Jesus Christ,” DeLuney wrote.
The court saw diary entries up until February 8: “Dear God, I love and miss mum sooo much, please take care of her. Thank you for blessing me with such a loving, kind and wise mum.”
The jury took only a day to deliberate, returning their guilty verdict on Wednesday, just before 5pm.
DeLuney was remanded in custody, to be sentenced in September.
- RNZ