Lone boat's dawn sailing

By Alison Horwood and Eugene Bingham

A woman watched a lone boat motoring out of Endeavour Inlet just before 4.45 am on New Year's Day, 1998, the Scott Watson double murder trial heard yesterday.

Delina Meredith Mihaere, a Wellington nanny, told the High Court at Wellington that the boat appeared to be white and did not have any lights on.

Miss Mihaere and her friend, Kristal Jae Baillie, left the camp ground at Furneaux Lodge about 4.30 am, and walked the track towards a bach at The Pines, on the other side of Endeavour Inlet in the Marlborough Sounds.

After walking for five or 10 minutes, Miss Mihaere stopped at a vantage point and briefly watch the boat moving away.

She told crown prosecutor Paul Davison, QC, that the boat was moving towards the left as she looked out at the inlet.

The Crown alleges Watson left the inlet in the early hours of New Year's Day after inviting Olivia Hope and Ben Smart on board for the night.

Another woman, whose name was suppressed, told the court how a man in a blue denim shirt brushed against her breasts.

She said the man struck up a conversation with her when she was near the pool tables in the lodge's main bar between 9.30 pm and 10 pm.

He told her he was from Christchurch and invited her back to his boat.

"I gave my friend a glance which was like, 'Help, get me out of here'."

She said the man put his drink on the floor, and as he bent down he brushed against her top.

Crown lawyer Kieran Raftery: What part of your top?

The witness: My breasts.

She did not know if it was a deliberate act or if the man had no idea of personal space.

She said the man was in his early 30s, slim but stocky, and looked as if he had not recently had a haircut or a shave. He was wearing a blue denim shirt and the sleeves were rolled up part-way, she said.

"One thing that stands out was his denim shirt because I had asked him if he had peed on it because it was wet," she said.

In cross-examination from defence lawyer Mike Antunovic, the woman said probably more men than women were in the bar.

She agreed that on March 21 last year, when police asked her to identify the man in a montage of photos, she selected numbers one and five as the most similar.

Watson was number three.

A friend who was drinking with the woman, Anna Aylene Kernick, said the same man was hanging around their group and had also propositioned her.

"When I leaned forward to put a drink on the floor, he said, 'Nice set you've got there, love'.

"Later on, when I made a comment that it was cold and I was looking forward to the boat ride home, he said something to the effect of, 'Come down on to my boat and I will do things to you never imagined or dreamed of'," said Miss Kernick.

The man, whom she identified as Watson from a police montage, stayed around their group until an off-duty police officer who was with them spoke to him.

Certain aspects of the conversation between the officer and Watson were suppressed by Justice Heron.

The judge said the suppression was an interim ruling and could be reviewed later in the trial.