Watson wanted to kill: witness

By Alison Horwood and Eugene Bingham

WELLINGTON - Several weeks before Olivia Hope and Ben Smart vanished, Scott Watson allegedly told friends that he wanted to kill someone.

Evidence from a man and a married couple was given in the High Court at Wellington on Tuesday but suppressed by Justice Heron until yesterday.

Watson denies murdering Olivia and Ben, and after almost 11 weeks of crown evidence, his lawyers will begin their case on Monday.

The couple, whose names are suppressed, said Watson talked of wanting to kill when he visited them at their Picton house one Sunday in November 1997.

Watson had a few drinks on the balcony and in the evening he went to the pub with the man. The woman said Watson got into a loud conversation when he returned to the house about 9.30 pm.

"They both started a conversation about how they met a girl down at the pub who had been annoying them. [Watson] said ... that he should have killed her."

Asked about the tone of his voice, she said: "He got louder and louder and more intense."

She tried to change the subject, but Watson continued, getting more excited.

"He asked me if there was anybody I didn't like. He said there was no problem to do it, he knew people to do it. He kept on repeating, 'There must be somebody, come on - we could kill them for you'."

The woman got sick of Watson's comments and asked him to leave so she could go to bed.

Cross-examined by Mike Antunovic, the woman admitted her husband and Watson had been drinking since about 2.30 pm.

Mr Antunovic: Both were quite loud and in quite a jovial mood?

The witness: They started off briefly like that but Scott took over and the mood did change.

Justice Heron asked the woman whether she took Watson seriously when he began to talk about murder.

"Initially I tried to dismiss it, but the more it carried on the more intense it became; it lost its jokey nature, it was a serious matter."

Justice Heron: Could it not have just been the booze?

The witness: I've been around drunk people before and I've never heard anybody talk like that.

Her husband told the court that while they were in the pub, Watson began talking about murder. "Out of the blue, he started talking about killing everyone else in the bar."

Back at the house, he remembered Watson telling his wife that if she wanted anyone killed, "he would do it."

Another friend of Watson's, whose name is also suppressed, told the court about Watson's hatred of women and his desire to kill.

When the friend told him to stop talking rubbish, Watson allegedly replied: "Keep an eye on the paper, man."

The friend said that after his marriage break-up in late 1996, he and Watson became close.

"He [Watson] started to open up to me about things that had happened in his personal life and his unhappiness."

Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery asked if there was a single remark between November 1996 and March 1997 that stuck in his mind.

The man said: "There certainly was. There was something said in the vein of [how] his unhappiness would cause him to have almost a hatred towards women ... and he talked about killing at some stage."

Mr Raftery: Are you talking about one particular woman?

The witness: No, he was very angry.

Asked how the man responded, he said: "Don't talk rubbish, man, that's being silly. The retort to me was, 'Keep an eye on the paper, man'."

Mr Raftery: What sort of tone did he say that in?

The witness: Almost a shout and then he turned and walked away.