Witness says Watson rang about search

By Eugene Bingham and Alison Horwood

Scott Watson phoned an associate to ask if he knew what police had "dug up" from his boat after it was seized.
Christchurch man Alasdair Lorne Cassels told the double-murder trial that Watson grilled him over the phone some time after Blade was hauled from the water on January 12, 1998.

"He was quizzing me a little bit about what police had found and didn't find. I think he said something like, `What did they dig up?'"

Mr Cassels said he did not know if Watson was joking or serious and he had no information to give him anyway.
He told the court earlier that Watson did maintenance work on his two yachts.

On December 30, the day before the party at Furneaux Lodge in Endeavour Inlet, Watson sanded and primed the hull of one of Mr Cassels' vessels.

Sometimes he was paid in spare marine parts but, on this occasion, Watson asked for $60 to buy rum for New Year's Eve.

Mr Cassels said he thought Watson might have invited another of his employees to the party at Furneaux.

He also said that the blue paint Watson used to change the appearance of his boat on January 2 was inappropriate.

The chlorinated rubber paint was suitable for steel hulls rather than wooden surfaces such as the upper woodwork on Blade.

It was difficult to brush on and far better to spray, he said.

The paint, which Watson obtained from a shed at Mr Cassels' property in Eerie Bay, Tory Channel, softened in solvents.

"If you left a dead fish on it for a couple of hours paint would come off."

Another witness, Brian John Kinder, said he worked with Watson at Carey's Boatyard in Picton in 1995. During that time they prepared many boats for painting by filing, priming and sanding.

Fingerprint expert Ian Graham Harrison told the court that doors, ceilings, walls and the undersides of tables and shelves on Blade bore wipe marks when police inspected them.

Up to 50 per cent of each surface had streak marks left behind by a wet cloth.

Under questioning from Justice Heron, Mr Harrison said it was impossible to say how long the marks had been there.

Defence counsel Mike Antunovic cross-examined him on how extensive the search had been.

Mr Harrison said that as well as the tests on the boat, he and his partner ex-amined a large number of items taken from Blade to their laboratory in Christchurch.

The items included books, cassettes, maps, charts, knives, razor blades, cigarette paper packets, clocks and sunglasses.

Any prints found were compared with fingerprints belonging to Olivia Hope, Ben Smart and members of the Watson family including the accused, his sister Sandra Jo, mother, Beverly, and father, Chris.

Investigators had also given Mr Harrison the fingerprints of water taxi driver Guy Wallace, he said.

The only prints on the boat belonged to Watson and his sister, while his mother's prints were on some books found on board.

Earlier, the court heard from two people who went on a fishing trip with Ted and Eyvonne Walsh, an Endeavour Inlet couple who had told the court they saw a ketch with a young couple on board on January 2.

Richard Brian Henwood and Kevin Lyall Ries were on the same trip and gave evidence from Canada via a video link to the courtroom.

Mr Henwood said he spent his time fishing and did not notice any boats in particular.

Mr Ries said he was on the fly bridge with Mr Walsh and heard Mrs Walsh comment about a passing ketch.

He looked up and saw an old-style ketch about 40 feet long. It had a distinctive wheelhouse cabin. He did not see anybody on board.

Shown a picture of the ketch Alliance, which was at the Furneaux Lodge celebrations, Mr Ries said the boat he recalled looked different on the top side and was shorter.

Under cross-examination, he said the boat he remembered looked "quite similar" to the drawing of a ketch police sought early in their inquiries.