Accused's tot 'saw pair drag out body'

By TONY STICKLEY

A 2-year-old boy witnessed the aftermath of the slaying of South Auckland man Raymond Mullins, a jury heard yesterday.

Mr Mullins, aged 59, was bludgeoned about the head with a hammer and stabbed several times while in the upstairs living quarters of his small Papatoetoe engineering business.

He was then trussed hand and foot before being dragged downstairs and put in the boot of a car along with the weapons used to kill him. A blood trail led to the vehicle.

Natalie Fenton, 15, her sister Katrina Fenton, 20, and Daniella Bowman, 18, all of Otara, are appearing in the High Court at Auckland charged with murdering Mr Mullins last April 1.

In her statement to the police, Natalie Fenton allegedly said that as she and her sister dragged the dead man down the stairs his false teeth fell out.

She said that Bowman's son Jakeem saw this part of the incident. The child was screaming as the victim was dragged downstairs and she swore and told him to be quiet.

Natalie Fenton said the attack started when Mr Mullins sexually attacked her. Her elder sister repeatedly hit him with a hammer and she (Natalie Fenton) stabbed him a number of times.

"I was just hard out stabbing him. I felt evil. The place just went cold like a freezer and I knew I had killed him," she allegedly said.

Asked by the interviewing officer why the dead man was tied up, Natalie Fenton replied: "I don't know. I just felt so evil that night I wanted to dump him somewhere."

Katrina Fenton also said in her statement that her sister was being sexually molested. But Bowman, in her statement, said they had discussed killing Mr Mullins beforehand.

The Crown says the motive was to steal Mr Mullins' property and money.