Christchurch bodiless murder trial: Key witness testimony comes under spotlight

David Charles Benbow denies murdering Michael McGrath and is standing trial at the High Court in Christchurch. Photo / George Heard

A key witness in the Christchurch bodiless murder case has today been reminded by a defence lawyer that his job is not to give evidence to “fit in with the police theory”.

A port worker claims he saw two men outside a semi-rural property on May 22, 2017, which fits the time and place former Corrections officer David Benbow is accused of murdering Michael McGrath.

Benbow, 54, had asked McGrath to visit his Candys Rd, Halswell property at 9am that day to help him shift some railway sleepers.

But Benbow claims he never showed up and denies having anything to do with his disappearance.

The Crown claims Benbow shot him dead and got rid of his body, just weeks after telling a counsellor that he wanted to “annihilate” McGrath who was seeing his ex-partner Joanna Green.

Lyttelton Port worker Stephen Robinson today gave evidence on day 13 of the High Court trial in Christchurch.

Port records showed that the line supervisor had been working early on Monday, May 22, 2017.

His first job was about 1.30am tying up a large container ship.

After shifting the big, heavy ropes, he had slept in a bunk onsite, rising again about 7am when a cutter headed out to bring in a fishing boat from Nelson.

Records say it was tied up at 8.31am and after returning to his office, and spending about five minutes putting his gear away, Robinson drove home in his white Toyota Corolla.

Roadworks diversions took him by “Halswell Quarry way” and he ended up travelling down Candys Rd.

Asked by Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes what time it was, Robinson replied: “It would’ve been round about 9am.”

Christchurch builder Michael Craig McGrath, 49, was last seen at his home in Halswell, Christchurch, in May 2017.

Benbow allegedly arrived slightly late for a counsellor’s appointment in Riccarton just after 10am that day, the court has earlier heard.

Robinson says as he slowed for the Candys Rd junction, he saw two men talking at the roadside and a dark blue Subaru parked on the side of the road.

McGrath owned a blue Subaru which was later found parked in his driveway at his Checketts Rd, Halswell home when his brother and new partner Green went to check on him after he failed to show up for a family dinner on Tuesday, May 23, 2017.

The witness described one man wearing a red t-shirt over a long-sleeved top and the Englishman remembered thinking it was a very Kiwi thing to wear. Robinson further described the man as being white, slim, and fair haired.

Robinson recalls another man who had his back to him, heavier set, with a dark woollen top.

He passed by doing probably 20km/h as he slowed for the junction and had seen them for about 20 seconds, he said.

“Never gave it a second thought,” Robinson said.

Later, he saw a TV news item about a missing Christchurch man but it didn’t ring any bells.

It was only two weeks later, on June 6 while seeing publicity on TV, which featured another photograph of McGrath, that a “light come on”.

The next day he was driving his wife when they passed Candys Rd and saw a lot of police activity and “it all connected” for him, the court heard.

On the way home, he stopped at a petrol station when a police car pulled up. He spoke to the officer and his information was passed on to the investigation team.

But Robinson’s evidence came under heavy scrutiny from defence counsel Marc Corlett KC today.

“Mr Robinson, are you confident about what you saw?” Corlett opened by asking.

“I hope so, yes. I would think so yes. I saw two men talking on the roadside,” Robinson replied.

Corlett would go on to stress to Robinson that he understood the “importance of being accurate and what’s at stake in this trial”.

When Robinson first spoke to the police officer at the petrol station, he couldn’t remember the date or time that he saw the men.

And during his first official statement to police on November 12, 2017, he said he saw the two men at about 12.30pm - and wasn’t sure whether it was May 21 or May 22.

A second statement to police on December 28, 2017, Robinson said his second job had been at 9am that morning and he would’ve seen the men about 10am.

Asked if it was possible that he had seen the men on Saturday, rather than the Monday when it’s alleged that McGrath went missing, he disagreed.

Corlett also highlighted that today was the first time Robinson has said that he was at Candys Rd around 9am, and that he hadn’t done so in either of his statements to police.

The defence lawyer was critical of Robinson’s evidence, telling him he was not there “to give evidence to fit in with police theory”.

The trial is ongoing at the High Court in Christchurch. Photo / Kai Schwoerer, Stuff, Pool

Benbow’s defence team earlier warned the jury of “investigative bias” and “tunnel vision” from police early in their investigations.

While the Crown accepts there is no body, no murder weapon, and little forensic evidence in the case, it says there is a strong circumstantial case consisting of many threads that, when taken together, show Benbow is guilty of McGrath’s murder beyond reasonable doubt.

The trial, before Justice Jonathan Eaton, continues.