Brett Hall's Pitangi property, between Parikino and Atene, on the Whanganui River. Photo / Whanganui Chronicle
Brett Hall's Pitangi property, between Parikino and Atene, on the Whanganui River. Photo / Whanganui Chronicle
RNZ The defence in the David Lyttle murder trial has started its closing arguments - saying a confession was coerced and pure fiction.
Mr Lyttle is on trial in the High Court in Wellington for the murder of his friend Brett Hall in May 2011.
Mr Hall went missingfrom his Whanganui property, and the Crown says Mr Lyttle admitted to undercover police in 2014 that he had killed him.
In his closing arguments yesterday, defence lawyer Christopher Stevenson said the confession was just a story.
"We now know - especially from the DNA exonerations and her honour the trial judge - told you about this at the beginning of this case - innocent people say they did it," he said.
Mr Stevenson went back over the police operation, showing the jury a photo of Mr Lyttle's small family home and then a photo of a luxury Porsche vehicle.
That car was involved in the undercover operation.