KEY POINTS:
The sister of the butcher who disposed of Wellington man Tony Stanlake's severed hands helped clean up the flat where he was allegedly murdered, she told a court yesterday.
Peter Leach's sister, whose name has been suppressed, was giving evidence at a depositions hearing in Wellington District Court to determine if Daniel Moore, 22, should stand trial for Mr Stanlake's murder.
Leach, 22, was sentenced to 15 months' jail after pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact of murder. He disposed of Mr Stanlake's hands.
Moore is accused of murdering Mr Stanlake, 62, to gain control of the profits of the pair's cannabis-growing operation run from Moore's flat in the Wellington suburb of Miramar.
Mr Stanlake's handless body washed up at Red Rocks beach on Wellington's south coast on July 9 last year.
Leach's sister said that on July 11 she went to the Miramar flat he shared with Moore, arriving after 8pm.
She said she smelt marijuana then went upstairs to a room where Moore was cleaning and saw a rubbish bag with cannabis on it.
Later, Moore told her to take his car home, saying he would use her car.
Leach's sister said she felt scared about driving Moore's car. "I was worried that the police might be looking for his car."
After giving her keys to Moore, Leach's sister went into the garage - the site where Mr Stanlake was allegedly murdered five days earlier.
Water, a roll of carpet and "some red patches" were on the floor. The woman described feeling sick when she saw a box containing plates and a cord, covered with "splatters of blood".
She put her child's car seat into Moore's car and noticed the boot was open. She placed a bag of her brother's belongings in the car.
She returned home and parked Moore's car in her driveway, then watched the television news. "I saw that about the Red Rocks case that someone had identified the Subaru Legacy."
She sent a text message to her brother telling him to collect the car.
Although he replied saying he would not be long, the car was still there the next morning, but her own car had been returned.
She moved the vehicles so Moore's car could not be seen from the street.
She opened the boot of Moore's car and looked inside where there were rubbish bags, the box with the blood-splattered plates and containers that looked like cleaning agents.
She also checked the boot of her own car, which was empty, but there was a "little red patch" on the back seat which had not been there before.
Another witness, April Perenara, told the court about seeing Moore in town on July 8.
Her friend went home with him, then Ms Perenara later caught a taxi to the Miramar flat.
She said she was "really drunk" and did not remember going into the garage that night, "but I was told that I did".
Moore drove her home to Wainuiomata the next day.
She saw him again on Tuesday and noticed some blood on the inside of his car door. Moore told her this was from a friend who had cut his arm.
He told her that day he needed to clean up the house for an inspection but did not say who for.
"I just presumed it was his landlord," Ms Perenara said.
That day Moore and Leach asked Ms Perenara, a hairdresser, to dye their hair, but that was not done.
The hearing before justices of the peace Bernadette Pool and Ian Symonds is expected to end by Friday.
- NZPA
