Marice McGregor case: Accused vows to name 'real' killer

"I flew into a rage and hit her ... then I hit her a couple more times ... I think to make sure she's dead."
That was the confession murder accused 43-year-old Dean Richard Mulligan, allegedly gave Whanganui police during an interview on May 25 last year.
Mulligan, from Feilding, went on trial in the High Court at Wanganui yesterday for the murder of 45-year-old Wanganui sickness beneficiary Marice McGregor on April 19 last year.
Ms McGregor's body was found on May 13. She had suffered head injuries.
At the start of the Crown case, prosecutor Lance Rowe said Mulligan hit Ms McGregor three times over the head with an iron bar and left her to die in a stream in a cave at the bottom of a gully on Whisky Bend, on the Paraparas.
Mr Rowe said the murder was premeditated, telling the court Mulligan had looked up information on the internet about the impact of a blow to the back of the head.
However, defence counsel Stephen Ross said Mulligan would take the stand to give evidence in his defence, to tell the court he did not kill Ms McGregor.
"In his evidence he will tell you the name of the person who killed her, the person who was responsible for her death. This person was an associate of Marice," Mr Ross said.
Mulligan had only confessed to police out of fear for the safety of his wife and children and that he "wove a tissue of lies", the attorney said.
Mulligan, a computer technician, has one leg and was pushed into the court in a wheelchair.
However, the court was told he also wore a prosthetic leg and was able to walk well.
Mr Rowe said Mulligan and Ms McGregor had met 19 months earlier on an internet dating site where Ms McGregor had called herself Katrina.
The pair had met up three or four times a week at Ms McGregor's house in Gonville, with Ms McGregor also visiting Feilding.
During 2009 it was claimed Ms McGregor gave $26,000 to Mulligan from her inheritance account of $50,000. The court was told $25,000 was still missing from that account.
On April 19, 2010, Ms McGregor and Mulligan allegedly met up at Lismore Forest where they intended to go climbing the Paraparas.
A police examination of Mulligan's computer after his arrest, showed he had used an internet website to look up three questions.
They were: What happens if - "hit head really hard", "hard hit to back of head" and "hit back of head".
The Crown claimed Ms McGregor had left her red Suzuki 4WD at Lismore Forest, then travelled with Mulligan in his 4WD to Whisky Bend.
Mr Rowe said the couple clambered into a gully where there were caves and a tunnel.
Mulligan had an iron bar for support while walking down the ravine.
Mr Rowe said Mulligan hit Ms McGregor twice across the back of the head with the iron bar, then once on the front of her head.
"They were inflicted injuries, not accidental," Mr Rowe said.
Mulligan took Ms McGregor's keys and threw them from the window of his car as he drove back down the Paraparas, Mr Rowe said.
The keys were discovered days later in a culvert by a university field team searching for insects.
Rowan McGregor, Ms McGregor's older brother, told the court he saw his sister about once a month, and that she was a very independent and private person. A year ago, she had told her brother and his wife, Rosemary, that she had met a man from Feilding and was very happy.
On April 30 an alert was received that Ms McGregor was officially missing, after her car was seen at Lismore Forest by a school bus driver who was concerned it had been parked there for so long.
Mr McGregor said he received a phone call from Mulligan at 10pm on April 27, who said he was worried about Ms McGregor because he could not contact her.
He said he had the keys to Ms McGregor's house and car, Mr McGregor said.
Mr McGregor arranged to meet Mulligan at McDonald's restaurant in Bulls on April 28 to collect the keys.
Rosemary McGregor told the court the first thing Mulligan had said to her that night was that "Marice was a meat pattie short of a hamburger".
"I was a stunned mullet when he said that,"she said.
On May 25, Mulligan handed himself into police after talking to his pastor, a friend and a random stranger.
The trial is expected to run for 10 days.
KEY POINTS
- Crown alleges Ms McGregor killed with three blows to the head from an iron bar
- Mulligan said to have used the internet to research the impact of blows to the head
- Defence says Mulligan is innocent and will give evidence and name the person responsible for McGregor's death
- Mulligan's confession to police is claimed to be a lie, out of fear for the safety of his wife and children