Witness in Lundy case: I saw what I saw

By ALISON HORWOOD

A witness in the Lundy tomahawk killing case said yesterday that she was a psychic but stood by her story of seeing a fat man running near the scene of the murders in a blond corkscrew wig.

Under cross-examination from defence counsel Mike Behrens, QC, Margaret Dance denied using her psychic powers to assist her in giving evidence: "No I deliberately shut [the powers] out so I could be completely factual in what I saw and what I remembered."

Ms Dance was giving evidence at a depositions hearing in the Palmerston North District Court to determine whether Mark Edward Lundy, aged 42, will go on trial for the murders of his wife, Christine, 38, and only child, Amber, 7, on August 29 last year.

Ms Dance said she was driving along Rhodes Drive, Palmerston North, about 7.15 that night when she saw a fat man in a wig wearing a shirt and tie covered by a tracksuit, and possibly gloves and leather shoes.

He seemed frightened, his "legs pumping up and down" as though he were being chased.

The court has already heard that Lundy, a businessman, checked into a Petone motel about 5 pm that day.

The Crown says Mrs Lundy and Amber both died of severe head injuries about 7.15.

In his opening address, Crown Solicitor Ben Vanderkolk said that although Mrs Lundy was a night-owl, "for an unknown reason" she was lying naked in bed when her attacker approached from the side.

She was smashed in the face and head about nine or 10 times with a tomahawk, he said, leaving the room sprayed with blood, brain and bone fragments.

Amber was in her bunk across the hall but woke during the attack.

She walked into the master bedroom - leaving her teddy bear in her rumpled bedclothes - and was pursued and killed in the doorway.

The tomahawk has not been found but traces of paint found in the hair of the bodies was similar to paint marking several tools in the Lundy garage, says the Crown.

The court has already heard that Lundy told the police he thought the killings were a burglary gone wrong.

But the Crown says he forced a catch on a conservatory window to stage a break-in.

Disguised in a wig, he ran to his dark blue Ford Fairmont parked nearby and then drove back to his Petone motel.

He told the police they could trace his movements through two cellphone calls - one to a business colleague at 8.30 and another to massage parlour Quarry Inn at 11.26 - both sent through a Petone cell site.

But the Crown says the deaths occurred at the mid-point of three hours for which Lundy cannot account for his time except for saying he had dinner, watched television and read a book in his car on the Petone foreshore.

Some evidence relating to his car and its contents has been suppressed.

Detective Nigel Hughes, of Palmerston North, yesterday told the court how on September 15 he took Lundy through the home at Karamea Cres to see if anything was amiss.

On entering the hallway, Lundy collapsed. "He then got up and did not walk down the hallway, but sidled ... with his back against the wall," Detective Hughes said.

Lundy immediately noticed that a jewellery box was missing from the bedroom (it has not been found) and pointed out that the broken window latch had been replaced.

Detective Hughes said Lundy told him after he left the house: "I'm so glad they took the jewellery box. I'm so pleased there was something stolen."

The defence case is still to be heard.