Marice McGregor trial: Victim gave cash to accused

Marice McGregor spent thousands of dollars financially supporting the man now accused of murdering her, and named him as a trustee in her will.
The evidence was heard on the second day of the High Court trial of 43-year-old Dean Richard Mulligan, accused of the murder of Ms McGregor, whose body was found on May 13 last year in a ravine off State Highway 4, about 50km north of Wanganui.
The trial began on Monday with the Crown claiming Mulligan, who has pleaded not guilty, struck Ms McGregor three times in the head with an iron bar.
Although Mulligan told police he killed Ms McGregor, he now claims his confession was a lie, and that he will give the court the name of the person who actually killed her.
Ms McGregor's friend of eight years, Elaine Moles, was first to take the stand yesterday morning, saying Ms McGregor was "absolutely besotted" with Mulligan.
Mulligan came up in every conversation, with Ms McGregor talking about having children with him, marrying him and moving in with him, she said.
It concerned her that Ms McGregor had been financially supporting Mulligan, to the point where she was not paying her own bills, and Ms Moles would take her food on occasion.
Ms Moles said Ms McGregor liked to talk about her sex life with Mulligan, calling it "their fun". She told her that one of the things he wanted money for was an operation on his penis, because he had problems in that area.
Ms Moles and her daughter had both acted as witnesses for Ms McGregor's will in the months prior to her disappearance, but at the time, there was no talk of her leaving her assets to Mulligan.
In the days before she disappeared, Ms McGregor told Ms Moles that she and Mulligan were going to go "up the Parapara", where they had found a place they could be together that could not be seen from the road.
She also mentioned going climbing, which puzzled Ms Moles because of Ms McGregor's ankle problems, and Mulligan's prosthetic leg.
But when questioned further, Ms McGregor would just give a "silly little laugh", Ms Moles said.
In the days following Ms McGregor's disappearance, Ms Moles said she received a phone call from Mulligan, who asked if she had seen Ms McGregor and if she thought she had "done something stupid".
Unprompted by Ms Moles, she said he then confessed to having a wife, saying Ms McGregor thought his wife was his flatmate.
A day later, he called again to say that he had Ms McGregor's keys and that he was going to tell her brothers that she was missing.
Evidence given by Ms McGregor's financial adviser of 12 years, Ronald Stoneman, revealed that Ms McGregor had inherited, in various forms, assets to the value of about $150,000 upon her mother's death.
Mr Stoneman said as a sickness beneficiary, Ms McGregor made a maximum of 10 withdrawals from her account before 2008, usually but not always producing a bill that needed to be paid along with the withdrawal amount.
From May 2008, the withdrawals started to become more frequent, and she was asking for higher amounts, he said.
Ms McGregor told him she had a boyfriend who lived in Feilding during this time and she was in love. Her appearance improved and she seemed happy, he said.
His record of withdrawals from the period showed a sum of $4000 was withdrawn as "for a friend" in January 2009, and later three withdrawals totaling $9000 were noted as for partner's surgery, partner's further surgery, and partner's surgery costs and expenses.
Another withdrawal, in December 2009, was made and noted as "urgently for partner's ex-wife".
A number of other withdrawals were also made for which no reason was given.
Mr Stoneman said he called a meeting with Ms McGregor to speak with her about her finances, as he was concerned that she was spending a lot of money in a short period of time and wanted to check that she was not being taken advantage of.
He also called her brother, Rowan McGregor, to share his concern about the frequency and amount of the withdrawals she had been making.
However, ultimately, it was her decision on how she spent her money, he said.
Under cross examination, Mr Stoneman agreed that Ms McGregor was strong-willed and able to make her own decisions, and did not necessarily share any more information than she had to. She did not always provide proof of her payments, and it was not always Mr Stoneman who met with her when she came in.
In September 2009, Ms McGregor asked Mr Stoneman for a copy of her withdrawals from the time she had been involved with Mulligan, which she then took to her lawyer to have a deed to acknowledge debt written up.
The withdrawals amounted to $48,206.50, and she asked her lawyer, Michael John van Delden, to draw up the deed for $50,000, naming Mulligan as the debtor.
However, she did say that not all of that money would have gone to Mulligan.
Mr van Delden said she told him that Mulligan was her boyfriend, and he was having some financial issues - his ex-wife was refusing him access to their children if he did not pay her first, and she had loaned him some money, he said.
Ms McGregor was given the document to give to Mulligan to sign in September, but it was not until January that Mr van Delden saw her again when she came back to amend the deed to $16,824 - the figure she said Mulligan had agreed to pay her.
Mr van Delden said he was attempting to administer Ms McGregor's estate, but it was currently in limbo as a new will, not sighted by him, had been found since the last one he assisted her with in 2004.
In that will, two organisations, the Wanganui Fire Service, and St John Ambulance, were the main beneficiaries.
The new will, a handwritten one on a template bought from Whitcoulls, was witnessed by Ms Moles and her daughter, but when shown a copy of the will, Ms Moles gave evidence that it did not have the handwriting it now contains when she signed it in 2009.
The notes, in Ms McGregor's handwriting, identify Mulligan as a trustee, not as a beneficiary.
However, Mr van Delden said that if the will were to be upheld, it would appear that everything would be left to Mulligan, based on the assumption that Ms McGregor did not know the correct will procedure, but did know her intent.
Investigations into the will were to continue.
The trial continues today.