Accused told husband two of their four kids not his

Christine King

A Te Aroha woman on trial for murdering her husband told him two of their four children weren't his on the night he disappeared, the High Court at Hamilton was told yesterday.

Christine King, 51, told police in August 1989 -- nine months after she allegedly killed Wayne Roycroft with a massive dose of sleeping pills in his dinner -- that he had left her and gone to live in Australia after she told him that two of their children -- who have name suppression -- were not his.

"These facts have always been secret outside of my family," she told then-detective Ian Newland.

"Wayne, I believe, couldn't have children, although the facts of true parentage have never been medically tested," she said.

The diminutive King, who was dwarfed by two prison escorts in court, has denied murdering Mr Roycroft in November 1988.

Her trial before Justice Ron Young in the High Court at Hamilton enters its third day today.

Yesterday, the court was told King repeated the claims about the parentage of her children when re-interviewed by then Detective Sergeant Derek Read six years later in April 1994.

"I don't believe Wayne thought I was telling him the truth about the kids not being fathered by him," she said.

"I believe Wayne was sterile. I'm not sure if he was aware or not.

"We had an argument which ended with him saying something like he'd had a guts full and he was leaving me and the kids."

King told Mr Read she went to work the next day, taking the children with her, and when they returned, Mr Roycroft had gone.

"I still believe Wayne is alive somewhere. I think if he was dead I would have a gut feeling about it. I know he loved me and the kids and I loved him even though he had many faults," she told Mr Read.

The Crown claims King killed Mr Roycroft in 1988 and buried him in a shallow grave at their Waihou home, about 40km norht-east of Hamilton. It is alleged that six years later she dug up his remains and burned them in a bonfire at their home.

Yesterday Detective Sergeant Christopher Page told the court how police had last year excavated the shallow grave under a concrete slab at the home after King had identified "places of interest".

"Once sand had been removed it was able to be seen that there was a change of colour in the soil which suggested that there had been some movement or inconsistency in that area," he said.

In the grave they found pieces of fabric, small bones and a ring.

They also excavated land nearby where King told police a fire had been set.

Items gathered from the sites had been sent to ESR for analysis.

King sat passively throughout yesterday's hearing, occasionally passing notes to her lawyers Judith Ablett-Kerr QC and Thomas Sutcliffe.

Today the jury is expected to be shown a video of a police interview with King.

Justice Young yesterday told the jury the trial was progressing faster than originally thought and may be finished mid way through next week.

- nzpa