Marice McGregor trial: I panicked and struck her by accident, accused told police

The jury in the trial of murder accused Dean Richard Mulligan yesterday heard he accidentally hit Marice McGregor on the back of the head twice with a bar, before panicking and hitting her across the face, described in a taped confession to police.
Mulligan, 43, is on trial for the murder of Ms McGregor, whose body was recovered on May 13 last year from a ravine at what is known as Whiskey Corner off State Highway 4, 50km north of Wanganui.
The Crown alleges Ms McGregor was killed by three blows to the head with an iron bar.
Mulligan initially told police he had killed Ms McGregor, but has since pleaded not guilty to her murder.
The court has been told his confession was a lie and that Mulligan would reveal who did kill Ms McGregor.
Mulligan recalled an interview with Detective David Burmeister on May 25 last year, where he wanted to tell him the "whole truth".
The meeting followed two interviews with police where Mulligan repeatedly denied any knowledge of where Ms McGregor was or what had happened to her, but also admitted having a life-long problem with lying.
In a pre-written statement, Mulligan told Mr Burmeister they had found a place to grow "grass" and were there on April 19 when Ms McGregor pulled her pants down.
He told her to pull them back up and then "slipped with a bar" and hit her. She fell, and he panicked, hit her again and left.
In questioning by Mr Burmeister, Mulligan said he met Ms McGregor online and she told him about her sexual abuse problems. He had helped her seek counselling and accompanied her to some sessions.
He said he wanted it to end there, but she began threatening to pull the "rape card" if he stopped seeing her. She touched him and made him touch her, but he felt uncomfortable about it.
In the months before her death, Ms McGregor had told Mulligan she had blown her money but had come up with a plan to grow marijuana.
He said they were at Whiskey Bend on April 19 scouting the location when he slipped and hit her with a small bar he had been carrying to navigate around the deeper pools in the ravine.
Mulligan told Mr Burmeister a number of versions of how he came to hit Ms McGregor, first saying she was in front of him when he slipped and landed on top of her, then that he slipped and pushed her forward, and finally saying he was above her when he slipped off a rock and he hit
her on the back of the head as they both fell.
He said he fell to his knees, and she fell backwards, "and I looked at her face and thought 'not good'."
He thought he might have hit her twice, and a third time across the face. When asked why he hit her across the face, he said he didn't know, only that he had panicked.
He said she was "moveless" after that, and told Mr Burmeister that he thought she was dead before he hit her across the face.
When asked why he hit her, he said it was an accident, but agreed it was fair to say he killed her.
Mulligan said he threw Ms McGregor's car keys out of the window as he drove home and found her cellphone in his car the next day which, after turning it on, he threw away.
He went on to tell Mr Burmeister that he had taken thousands of dollars from Ms McGregor, but felt he "owed her nothing" because she had given him money when he told her he didn't want it.
He said she had told him "she would pull the rape card on me" if he did not take the money.
Mulligan explained internet searches he had carried out relating to what might happen if someone were to be hit very hard on the back of the head were because he had been accidently hit on the head while packing boxes.
In a previous interview shown to the jury yesterday, Mulligan described how he had helped Ms McGregor in an elaborate scam to get $6000 out of her brother, and had knowledge of a will in which he believed he would be left her house and money because she didn't want her assets to go to her family upon her death. The trial continues today.