Watson 'backed into bar corner'

By Alison Horwood and Eugene Bingham

A man saved Scott Watson from being set upon by youths who rounded on him on New Year's Day.

Simon Bell said yesterday that he was drinking in the main bar at Furneaux Lodge in the Marlborough Sounds just after 2.30 am when he saw a group of youths backing a man into the corner.

He later recognised the man on television as Watson, who is on trial in the High Court at Wellington for murdering Olivia Hope and Ben Smart.

Mr Bell said the man was backing towards the area of the bar where he was drinking. Mr Bell stepped aside and managed to shut the youths off.

When he turned around to look at the man, the witness said he was calmly rolling a cigarette.

"His hands weren't even sweating when he rolled the smoke and I thought that's pretty cool," Mr Bell told the court amid a ripple of laughter in the public gallery.

He described the man as between 26 and 28 years, about 5ft 7 (1.7m) and of a build similar to himself. "That's why I helped him out."

He was wearing a blue denim shirt with the sleeves loosely rolled, showing off faded tattoos which could have been home-made. The man did not have stubble, but was not closely shaven.

"He could have shaved about 18 hours beforehand."

Mr Bell recognised the man as Watson several weeks later after watching television.

"I said to my wife, 'Gee, that's the guy that was in that scuffle in the bar at Furneaux'."

Under cross-examination from defence counsel Mike Antunovic, Mr Bell said Watson had not been aggressive to the men as they rounded on him.

Mr Antunovic: On his part, did you see any sign of retaliation?

Mr Bell: No, from my memory I would say he did not lift his hands above his waist. He just accepted the fact he was being jostled backwards.

Earlier, the court heard how a man resembling Watson commented on the fluorescent glow-stick a middle-aged woman was wearing around her neck.

Phillippa Elizabeth Holstein, who was holidaying on the yacht Kalea Rose, was with Lois Valmai Knowles in the main bar at the lodge about 12.30 pm.

She had a conversation with a man who appeared to be in his mid-30s, wearing a blue denim shirt.

"He indicated or said words to the effect it [the glow-stick] looked like a penis.

"I was sort of offended by it and I didn't continue the conversation."

She later saw Watson in news pictures and believed it was him.

In cross-examination from Mr Antunovic, Mrs Holstein said she did not mention the incident to police when interviewed on February 11 because she did not think it was relevant. She made a second statement in April this year.

Mrs Holstein said she was aware by then that Watson had been charged with the murders.

Mrs Knowles said the man in the bar, whom she also recognised on television as Watson, invited them back to his boat.

"He said did we want to go back to have a look at his boat," she said. "I said I wasn't interested and we had a boat of our own."

He asked the name of their boat, and said he knew Kalea Rose.

Watson also asked "who the blond with the big boobs was he saw on deck," she said. "I said: 'Careful, you could be talking about my daughter.'"

The court also heard yesterday that Emma Lee Aroha Harron honked the horn of Kalea Rose and waved her hands to get the attention of her boyfriend. A man on another boat nearby then lifted up his top and said, "Hey baby" or words to that effect.

He was wearing a blue shirt, and his boat was one-masted. It appeared to be cream-coloured, but she could see it only from the end.

She confronted him later in the bar but he shied away.