Cause of death baffles doctor

A cause of death for Papanui teenager Marie Davis was "anatomically unascertainable", a pathologist told the trial of the man accused of her rape and murder.

But Dr Martin Sage raised the possibility that the 15-year-old had been killed by neck compression.

Dean Stewart Cameron, a 39-year-old road worker, denies the charges. His trial in the High Court at Christchurch has so far lasted 10 days.

Marie Davis's body was found in the Waimakariri River about 11 days after she disappeared from her home in April last year.

The Crown case has been that she was wrapped in bedding, which was weighted with two large stones, when her body was put into the river at Groyne 56, an area about 5km upstream from where it was found.

Bedding was found in the river, but Marie's body was uncovered when it was discovered, the court has been told.

Dr Sage said there was no evident damage to the body from scavenging eels or seagulls, which he would have expected to find if a naked corpse had been in the river for 10 days.

Cross-examined by lead defence counsel Frank Hogan, Dr Sage said he had been told Marie had been well and he was surprised to read in news reports of the trial she had suffered from dizzy spells.

Asked about possible drag marks on her body, he said there were no bruises on her heels, but he could not exclude possible superficial drag marks on her buttocks.

Mr Hogan questioned him about the Crown assertion that Cameron had acted on his own in taking the body to the Waimakariri, wrapping it in bedding and dumping it in the river.

"One person could do that quite easily," Dr Sage said.

He did not accept evidence, which will be called later from a defence witness, that the body would have shown injuries if it had floated 5km down the river, as the Crown asserted.

His experience showed that in a relatively smooth river such as the Waimakariri, damage could be "surprisingly modest".

- NZPA