Decision to hitch-hike fatal for Lisa Blakie

5.00pm

In February 2000, Lisa Blakie missed her bus from Christchurch to Greymouth and decided to hitch-hike. It was a fatal decision.

Darfield man Timothy Taylor was yesterday found guilty of her murder by a jury in the High Court in Christchurch after a two-month trial. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The 20-year-old Timaru woman, who got a ride on the outskirts of Christchurch on February 2, was murdered and her body dumped in an Arthur's Pass river.

Police said Taylor spotted Ms Blakie hitch-hiking at Yaldhurst and, motivated by robbery and sex, stabbed and strangled her before leaving her body in Porter River in Arthurs Pass beside the State Highway 73 route to the West Coast.

It was discovered beneath a 104kg boulder by tourists looking for a fishing spot on February 6.

Her dog Kaos, which had accompanied her, was later found alive and well.

In October 2000, police recovered Ms Blakie's suitcase and kitbag from a rural water race west of Christchurch.

Ms Blakie had been fleeing the Devil's Henchmen gang in Timaru and was going to Greymouth to seek refuge behind the doors of the Epitaph Riders' fortified headquarters there.

She left Timaru for Christchurch the day before her death.

She apparently feared for her safety after being seen partying with the Road Knights in Timaru shortly after her relationship ended with a member of the rival Devil's Henchmen gang.

A former boyfriend, Epitaph Riders member Mark Halmshaw, said at the depositions hearing she felt in danger from the Devil's Henchmen because she had partied with the Road Knights.

Ms Blakie was driven to Christchurch by her father Doug Blakie because she "feared a hiding" and planned to go to the West Coast to earn money for a flight to Australia.

Mr Blakie, a Timaru Tranz Rail worker, said his daughter was going to head to Melbourne to her mother to make a new start.

Despite her gang connections and the revelations early in the police investigation that she had worked in the sex industry, Mr Blakie said her family had seen a very different side to her.

"She loved her family and we loved her. There was a side of Lisa that was not normal and we weren't happy with it. Although you do your best to keep your children on the right path, she was 20 and that was her choice.

"She was a friendly, outgoing person and she cared about her family. She didn't deserve to end her life in this way. It was cold and calculating," he said shortly after her death.

A police investigation, involving hundreds of interviews and searches in towns and cities all over the South Island, resulted in Taylor's arrest on January 30 last year.

Taylor was interviewed by police about Ms Blakie's murder early in the inquiry during an investigation over drugs.

Taylor, 32, had admitted to police giving Ms Blakie a lift but denied murdering her.

Police said a $20 cellphone recharge card bought by Ms Blakie at Yaldhurst just before she started hitch-hiking was used by Taylor only a few hours after she was last seen alive.

Taylor claimed he found Ms Blakie's recharge card inside his car when he returned to Darfield and loaded it onto his own cellphone.

During his murder trial, the prosecution and defence both produced evidence for and against Taylor being the killer.

The defence said Taylor dropped Ms Blakie at the Porter River layby, where she was abducted by her real murder or murderers.

At the time of death stated by pathologist Martin Sage as the most likely, Taylor had "an almost cast iron alibi" because he was in hospital with a broken arm after being assaulted.

The prosecution said the evidence pointed to Taylor being the murderer and theories that someone else did it were impossible.

Prosecutor Brent Stanaway told the court that at 1.02pm on February 2, 2000, Ms Blakie bought petrol, a lighter, and a newspaper from a service station.

At 1.58pm, Taylor loaded her cellphone recharge card on to his own cellphone.

"Fifty-six minutes doesn't sound like a lot of time but on the timing of our scenarios, there was plenty of time for Taylor to commit the crimes we allege he's committed," he said.

Other possible defence options included her being held captive on the West Coast and then dumped back at the Porter River layby, that she abandoned her dog and hitchhiked back to Christchurch and took up with a man in his forties and failed to contact worried families and friends, or that she was murdered by others.

A top forensic pathologist told the trial it was hard to believe Ms Blakie was killed at the time claimed by the police.

In response to questions from the defence, Peter Ellis said it was "very, very unlikely" and he would be surprised if she had died on February 2.

When questioned by Mr Stanaway, Dr Ellis accepted it was unlikely but possible Ms Blakie died on February 2 as the police claimed.

Defence lawyer Pip Hall said there were people who claimed to have seen Ms Blakie between February 2 and the discovery of her body on February 6.

Among them was Darfield service station proprietor John Gibson, 55, who told police he was "100 per cent certain" he saw Ms Blakie on the evening of February 4.

Another piece of evidence, a hair found on Ms Blakie's torso, was sent around the world in a fruitless bid to identify who it came from.

Mr Hall accepted that Taylor had lied to the police during seven interviews during which he went from denying ever seeing or meeting Ms Blakie to admitting driving her to within 50m of where her body was found.

However, he warned that did not make Taylor a murderer and he accused the two detectives who interviewed him of conducting an "unfair interrogation" that involved 'incredible pressure".

The jury took 18 hours to reach its verdict, delivered at 4.30pm yesterday.

Outside the court, Doug Blaikie said he was very pleased with the verdict.

The verdict meant the family could now also complete her headstone -- the date of her death had not been known until the jury's verdict that Taylor killed her on February 2 after picking her up when she was hitchhiking.

"Whatever people think, don't ever judge my daughter for what she may or may not have done with her life, just appreciate that we loved her."

- NZPA