Cabin items 'may get tossed about'

By Eugene Bingham

Storm-tossed boats in the Cook Strait-Marlborough Sounds area can have items tossed about their cabins and get wet inside, a witness told the Scott Watson double murder trial yesterday.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Mike Antunovic, James Bryan Keeley agreed that items such as cassette tapes could dislodge and land on the floor.

Mr Keeley was giving evidence in the High Court at Wellington where Watson has denied murdering Blenheim friends Olivia Hope and Ben Smart in the Sounds on New Year's Day, 1998.

The Crown has told the jury that the inside of Watson's 8.6m yacht, Blade, had been extensively cleaned when police seized it on January 12. Even cassette tape covers had been wiped.

Mr Keeley, who owns a 7.5m trailer-sailer named Caramba, told the court he and two friends had crossed Cook Strait before travelling to Endeavour Inlet and anchoring off Furneaux Lodge on New Year's Eve.

Under questioning from Mr Antunovic, Mr Keeley agreed things could get a bit chaotic in rough weather on small yachts in the area.

Mr Antunovic: When you go downstairs inside the boat, often water and spray that was on your clothing will get inside the boat?

Mr Keeley: Yes.

Mr Antunovic: Unless things like cassette tapes are secured they can fall off shelves and on to the floor and get wet and covered in spray, that sort of thing?

Mr Keeley: Yes.

Crown prosecutor Nicola Crutchley questioned Mr Keeley about what he and his friends had done on the night and whether any strangers had slept on their boat.

He was one of 15 boaties called by the Crown yesterday to give evidence about their movements. Miss Crutchley has told the jury that people from each of the boats the Crown says were in the inlet that night will be called to show that everyone's whereabouts has been accounted for except Watson's.

Leonard Young, the owner of a 12m launch who went to the inlet with his daughter and her friends at New Year's Eve, said he had dropped a passenger ashore about 11 pm and then returned to his mooring site.

Asked by Mr Antunovic how he had been able to navigate his way back through the anchored boats, Mr Young said: "You could see the outline of the boats. Some boats also had cabin lights on and lights attached to masts."

Mr Antunovic: So you didn't have any problem navigating your way through?

Mr Young: No.

The witnesses were also asked about whether they had been shown a sketched picture of a ketch the police were seeking early in their inquiry. Mr Young said he had not seen a ketch like the one the police had been seeking information on.

Two witnesses, Mary Godber and Gerald MacDonald, said they had seen a ketch. Mrs Godber said the ketch looked distinctive.

"It was a light colour with a broad blue stripe and it appeared to have a lot of metal around the port holes."

During examination-in-chief, both Mrs Godber and Mr MacDonald said the boat they had seen was the Alliance, one of the vessels anchored off the lodge that night.

Mr Antunovic asked one witness, Benedict Patrick McCormick, whether he had looked at every one of the boats in the inlet.

"Not individually, but where our boat was we could see quite a large percentage of them," said Mr McCormick.

Mr Antunovic: There were possibly as many as 150 to 170 boats around Furneaux that night. Did you look at all of them?

Mr McCormick: No.

Mr Antunovic: And any boats that arrived after dark and left before dawn, you accept you may not have seen them?

Mr McCormick: That is correct.

Today, the court will continue hearing from boaties who visited the inlet.