Murder accused Dean Mulligan this morning told the court that he was told by the men that he alleges killed Marice McGregor that he was to confess to killing her or they would hurt his family and hurt or kill him.
Mulligan, 43, is on trial for the murder of
Ms McGregor, whose body was found on May 12, last year in 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, but the defence claims she was killed by another man and that forensic evidence does not point to Mulligan.
Mulligan initially told police, a friend, his pastor and a stranger that he had killed Ms McGregor, but has since pleaded not guilty to her murder.
Mulligan, who continued to give evidence today, said the two men, one who abused him and another who he claims killed Ms McGregor, visited him at the Feilding motor camp he was staying in on the day Ms McGregor's body was found.
He said they told him they would hurt him and his family, and "give me a trip", which he understood to be a threat to kill him, if he did not confess.
Under cross-examination, Mulligan said he did not "exactly" agree with his defence's description of him as "a consistent and confused liar", and stood by his earlier statement to police that he had had problems lying his whole life.
Crown prosector Lance Rowe told Mulligan he had given five versions of his involvement in Ms McGregor's death so far and put it to him that his current version was also a lie. Mulligan told Mr Rowe he was not lying.
Mulligan said he told the court he was unsure of how many times and where Ms McGregor was hit when she was killed, because he was unable to see from his position on the bank of the ravine.
Mr Rowe put it to him that in police interviews, when he was confessing to hitting her himself, he gave an accurate description of where the blows landed.
Mulligan said these descriptions were a "lucky guess".
The cross-examination continues this afternoon.
Murder accused Dean Mulligan this morning told the court that he was told by the men that he alleges killed Marice McGregor that he was to confess to killing her or they would hurt his family and hurt or kill him.
Mulligan, 43, is on trial for the murder of
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.