Murder case: Accused says he lied to cover for girlfriend

By ANDREW KOUBARIDIS at the Wellington High Court
MURDER accused Shane Randle took the stand in his own defence yesterday and admitted telling police lies to cover for the real killer of Wanganui barmaid Tania McKenzie.
Randle is now into the third week of his trial at the Wellington High Court for the murder of Ms McKenzie. He also faces two charges of sexual violation. He has pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
Ms McKenzie was found floating face-down in the Whanganui River on January 7 2005, her 20th birthday. A post-mortem examination revealed she had died from massive head injuries.
Randle was a bouncer at the Red Lion Inn when he met Ms McKenzie. They were "starting a friendship", he said.
Dressed in a white shirt and blue tie, Randle answered no when asked directly by his lawyer, Greg King, if he murdered and sexually violated Ms McKenzie.
He told the court quietly but clearly how he walked Ms McKenzie home to her Keith St flat, where he vomited outside but didn't follow her in.
He didn't go in because, "my mission was to walk her home and I wasn't feeling well," he told the court.
Randle then walked to his Tay St house where he began cleaning up after his dogs.
Soon after, a woman he was in a relationship with, Dana Perry, arrived.
Randle claimed Ms Perry and another woman came into the house. The other woman has interim name suppression. "They looked ragged, dirty. They had mud and bloodstains on them and leaves in their hair."
He asked them what had happened.
Ms Perry allegedly told him she thought he was sleeping with Ms McKenzie so she "wasted" her.
Randle said he told her to take her clothes off and he put them in a bag he got from the kitchen.
He then went to Somme Pde where he found Ms McKenzie dead in the Whanganui River.
He said he stared at her for about five minutes before leaving without touching the body.
Crucial Crown evidence against Randle has been the scratch on his chest he told police was made by his dog ? an explanation refuted by experts ? and the presence of Ms McKenzie's dna in the washing machine and on one of his rings.
Mr King asked what happened next.
"I walked back inside and noticed the washing machine was going. I gave her specific instructions to leave things as they are."
Mr King: "Why didn't you just ring the police?"
"I should have called the police, but I cared about her so much," was Randle's reply.
He said he and Ms Perry got into an altercation where she scratched his chest.
Later, he watched police at the scene of the killing and drove to Mosquito Point where he said he burned Ms Perry's clothes, his clothes and the shoes he'd been wearing.
Crown prosecutor Andrew Cameron told Randle that witnesses had seen him wearing the star ring the night of the murder.
It was that ring scientists linked to Ms McKenzie.
Mr Cameron said Randle admitted having the ring in a conversation bugged by police ? but Randle said that conversation was "taken out of context".
Mr Cameron put it to Randle that all of the lies he admitted telling police were to help himself, not Ms Perry.
"The lies didn't protect Dana they protected you," he said.
Randle: "I felt they protected both of us."
Mr Cameron said police had asked him about marks and abrasions on Randle's hands, which he attributed to a punching bag at his house.
A police search, however, didn't find the bag. "It just so happens a lot of these lies protect you," Mr Cameron said.
Mr Cameron said Randle knew what the Crown evidence was and had sought "desperately" to come up with an explanation why Ms McKenzie's dna was in his house.
Randle accused police of "stitching" him up by presenting only evidence that made him look bad.
Opening the case for the defence, Mr King told the jury the case was a "whodunit" and reminded them Randle must be presumed to be innocent until the Crown had proven him guilty.
Mr King also reminded jurors they needed to understand what standard of proof was required to convict someone.
"There must be proof beyond reasonable doubt," he said.
Although the Crown case has closed, Mr Cameron was granted permission to question the woman that Randle alleges helped to kill Ms McKenzie.
She and another man, who also has name suppression, will testify today.
Mr Cameron said she would reject the allegations.
The trial before Justice Ronald Young and a jury of seven women and four men continues.