Flatmate admits killing but pleads insanity

The man accused of murdering Wellington law student Gavin Edward Dash yesterday admitted the facts of the killing, but pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity.

David James Gates, aged 27, has been charged with murdering Mr Dash on September 27, 1999 and with later burgling his flat. Mr Dash's dismembered body was found in two separate graves in the Makara Hills, Wellington, in June and July last year.

Crown prosecutor Grant Burston told the High Court at Wellington yesterday that Gates was functioning logically when he killed his former flatmate.

Gates, accompanied by a psychiatric nurse from Porirua Hospital, where he has been remanded in custody, sat impassively as Mr Burston opened the crown case, entering not guilty pleas to both charges in a clear voice.

Mr Burston said Gates had moved into a flat in Wavell St, Karori, in March 1999 after answering a newspaper advertisement placed by Mr Dash and another flatmate. In June, the female flatmate moved out, leaving just Gates and Mr Dash.

The two men did not get on, and things got to a point where Mr Dash moved out before he had even found another flat. He chose a time to move when Gates was not there.

"He did not say goodbye to Gates. He did not leave a forwarding address. Gates returned home to find that Mr Dash had shifted out without saying goodbye."

Mr Burston said that on September 27, Mr Dash visited the Wavell St flat to pick up some mail.

There was a confrontation. Gates punched Mr Dash to the ground, kicked him in the head and strangled him. He then took clothing from Mr Dash's upper body, wrapped a blanket round his head, put the body in a sleeping bag and left it in another room.

A few days later, he hid the body in thick bush in the Makara Hills. He then burgled Mr Dash's new flat in Pembroke Rd, Northland, to make it seem as though Mr Dash was simply a missing person - "gone, no address".

Gates did all he could to cover up the murder, including returning to the body and severing the head, hiding it separately, and removing the rest of Mr Dash's clothing, Mr Burston said.

For the defence, John Rowan, QC, made an extensive range of admissions on the main facts of the case - the killing, the disposal of the body and the burglary.

"These admissions should enable you to focus on the real issue in this case, which is the issue of insanity."

About 60 witnesses are to be called over the four weeks set down for the trial.

- NZPA