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Home / New Zealand

Witness tells of gruesome scene during Invercargill murder trial

Otago Daily Times
9 Mar, 2021 06:24 PM4 mins to read

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Samuel Samson, centre. Photo / ODT

Samuel Samson, centre. Photo / ODT

A witness in an Invercargill murder trial yesterday said she could not tell if the person she saw on a video call was a woman — as she was so badly beaten.

Crown witness Keely Wickliffe gave evidence on the second day in the High Court trial of Samuel Moses Samson, who is charged with murdering Azalia Wilson at Invercargill's Bavarian Motel, Waikiwi, on November 17, 2019.

Wickliffe said she was at a friend's house on the morning he received a video call which lasted about two minutes.

She said she had been sitting in the lounge, and could tell her friend, who was in the kitchen, was having an argument because of the swearing.

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She was unsure of the exact time but said it was between 1am and 3am.

When she met in the hallway with her friend, he was still on the call and showed her the phone.

She recognised the person on the other end of the video call as Samson, as she had known him since she was 16, she said. She was now 27 years old.

Wickliffe said she also saw another person from their forehead to the chest.

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When Crown counsel Riki Donnelly asked Wickliffe to describe the person, she said there was blood and bruises and she could not see her eyes.

"There was blood everywhere on her.

"Her face was not good — her whole face, her eyes, her head, her cheeks, her face, the whole thing."

She said she did not know from looking at the person whether it was a man or woman, but knew it was a woman from the way the two men had been talking during the call.

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Her friend then asked Samson what had happened, she said.

"He said 'You look like you killed her. Did you do that?' and he [Samson] replied 'you f*** my baby mama', which is not true it's just something he threw in there," Wickliffe said.

She said her friend then left the house for about 20 minutes and believed he was going to meet Samson near Southland Hospital.

Wickliffe said they tried to contact other people to find out who the victim could be and where she was.

Wickliffe called the police about 3.05am.

Defence counsel Judith Ablett-Kerr asked how long it was between seeing the woman on the video call and calling police.

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Wickliffe said it was about half an hour to 40 minutes, explaining the delay was caused from the shock at what she had seen.

Ablett-Kerr suggested the Facebook messenger video call never happened.

"What do you say to that?"

"Full of s***," Wickliffe replied.

"I've seen it."

She confirmed she would not sign the police statement when she was interviewed on November 19 because she did not want to "deal with it". However, she would sign it now.

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During re-examination, Donnelly played the 111 call Wickliffe made on November 17 and a subsequent call police made to Wickliffe at 3.24am.

In the first call she explained she had seen a beaten-up person on a video call on a mutual friend's phone.

She didn't know where the beaten person was but said Samson was responsible.

"Sam Samson just beat a girl — she's black and blue," Wickliffe said on the call.

In the second call, Wickliffe said she saw a guy was bragging that he had just beaten up a girl.

"It was Samuel Samson. She wasn't moving or anything, she was inside."

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The trial continues before Justice Gerald Nation today.

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