Marice McGregor trial: Mulligan names 'real' killer

Murder accused Dean Mulligan confessed to killing Marice McGregor out of fear for his family after being threatened and raped by a male assailant and cohort of the man he alleges really killed her, he told the High Court at Wanganui yesterday.
Mulligan, 43, is on trial for the murder of Ms McGregor, whose body was found on May 12, 2010, 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.
Before Mulligan took the stand yesterday, defence counsel Roger Crowley said he would tell the court that his numerous previous confessions to killing Ms McGregor were untrue and explain why he had told these stories.
He told members of the jury Mulligan was a "serial confessor and a consistent, confused liar", and asked them to bear in mind that he had a speech impediment, was not articulate and was not a professional witness.
"He'll be nervous, he'll be terrified, he doesn't have to go into the [witness] box but he has accepted the challenge," Mr Crowley said.
Mulligan told the court that he had gone to Whiskey Corner with Ms McGregor on April 19 to help her work out how she could plant marijuana there. He had lagged behind her and, when he stopped on an embankment near the bottom of the ravine, he saw her counting out money to a man waiting there.
The man, not known to Mulligan at the time, was telling Ms McGregor: "It wasn't enough, I can't do it for that much." When Mulligan asked who he was, Ms McGregor said: "Don't worry about it."
When she turned to climb out of the ravine, the man struck her with a hooked bar, three or four times to the back and front of the head, Mulligan said.
The man told Mulligan that if he told anyone about what had happened he would hurt him and his family.
Mulligan said Ms McGregor was not moving and he believed she was dead. He did not go further into the ravine to check because he was afraid he would not be able to get out again without his prosthetic leg, which he had taken off at the top of the ravine.
On returning to his van, Mulligan said he met the man again, who took him down a nearby track to another man, who was known to Mulligan.
Mulligan paused before quietly telling the jury the second man raped him and reiterated the threats to his family. Mulligan said he had been introduced to that man by Ms McGregor. He had raped him before for "not doing what he was told" in relation to her, he said.
Earlier in the day, Detective Senior Sergeant Neil Forlong gave evidence for the Crown and said Mulligan gave him a note with the names of the two men two weeks before the trial started.
Investigations into the names showed one man did not appear to exist and the only likely match from 10 possibilities the other name turned up did not match the description.
While Mulligan named both men in court, their identities were suppressed.
Before Mulligan took the stand, the jury watched the remainder of his interview with Detective David Burmeister, in which he told him he struck Ms McGregor by accident and did not call emergency services because he was "scared it was going to turn into murder".
"If I was going to do it properly, wouldn't I drag her into the cave and try to bury it?"
When asked why he did not do that, he said: "I didn't want to touch her ... I didn't want to touch a dead body."
The jury heard how Mulligan was arrested at the end of the interview and how he shortly after told Mr Burmeister there was a different ending to the story he had just told him.
He said that after Ms McGregor told him she was going to follow him home and tell his wife about their relationship, they had argued and he had flown into a rage, striking her intentionally more than once. Mulligan will continue to give evidence today and the Crown will have a chance to cross-examine him.
KEY POINTS: DAY 7
Mulligan claims to have confessed to killing Ms McGregor out of fear for his family, after being threatened and raped by a male assailant.
Mulligan says Ms McGregor was killed by another man with a hooked bar.
Defence describes Mulligan as a "serial confessor and a consistent, confused liar".