Grace Millane murder trial: Forensic evidence revealed. Video / Chris Tarpey
The Grace Millane murder trial has finished its first week, after hearing today that DNA tests strongly suggested that spots of blood found on the accused's fridge were hers.
The trial continued today with more expert forensic evidence about what police found in the accused killer's downtown Auckland apartment.
The trial will resume on Monday morning.
Warning: Graphic content
This morning Dianne Crenfeldt, an expert forensic scientist from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), told the court about her analysis of "probable blood staining" in the CityLife hotel room where the British backpacker died.
DNA tests provided "extremely strong scientific support" that the blood was Millane's.
A 27-year-old man, who has interim name suppression, is charged with murdering her in December last year as she was travelling the world as part of a year-long solo OE.
Crown prosecutors allege that on the night of December 1 - the eve of Millane's 22nd birthday - the accused strangled the young Brit to death in his central city apartment after the pair spent the night drinking.
After arriving in Auckland, the recent university graduate was matched with her accused killer on the dating app Tinder.
Millane's body was found crammed into a suitcase and dumped in a shallow grave in Auckland's Waitakere Ranges a week later.
'Extremely strong scientific support' blood was Millane's
1.30pm
The final witness of the day was Diana Kappatos, an ESR forensic toxicologist who performed a post-mortem toxicology report on Millane's body.
She said the young woman had 106 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, which is more than twice the legal limit for New Zealand drivers.
However, because the test occurred days after Millane died the levels may have been distorted.
"I cannot say if it was concentrated blood or diluted with other fluids," she said.
Kappatos added there was also no sign of drugs or poisons in Millane's body.
12.20pm
Turlough Thomas-Stone, an ESR forensic scientist, told the court DNA tests were conducted on probable blood stains on the carpet, fridge, and lining of a suitcase.
He said the blood spots on the small fridge were "500,000 million times more likely to have originated from Miss Millane than another woman" with the same DNA profile.
This, he said, was "extremely strong scientific support" that the DNA was Millane's.
A mixed DNA profile was also obtained from the carpet underlay.
It showed two people - a male and female.
Thomas-Stone said the major profile component of the DNA found corresponded with that of Millane's.
He said this result was 300,000 million times more likely to be Millane's DNA and an unknown person than two random people in the general New Zealand population.
Once again, Thomas-Stone said this was extremely strong scientific support that Millane had contributed the majority of the DNA on the carpet underlay.
DNA found on the bag was also 200,000 million times more likely to have come from Millane, he told the court.
Another ESR forensic scientist, Timothy Power, had his undisputed evidence read by Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey.
He said a DNA sample taken from a spot of blood on a bottle found in the apartment was comparable to Millane's DNA profile.
Statistically, he said, there was a 600,000 million times greater likelihood that the DNA had come from Millane and another person than two random people in the country's population.
Crenfeldt said her investigation found what she described were four visible blood spots on the fridge.
While she couldn't date the spots, and it was possible the spots were unrelated, they looked similar enough to have been deposited during the same event.
She told the court she had recorded in her notes that the blood staining on the fridge was likely caused by a "cast-off event".
"Some object with blood on it moving through the air and leaving this line of small blood spots," she explained.
The Crown says blood spots were found on a fridge in the accused's room at the CityLife hotel.
Crenfeldt said this could have been a person's "hand moving through the air and blood flying off it" or another object.
Nothing of significance was detected in the bathroom or basin area of the apartment, she told the court.
The accused's lawyer, Ian Brookie, said his client has told police he "encountered a small amount of blood on the floor and with the use of various cleaning products he went about trying to clean it up".
Millane's alleged killer gave a police interview on December 8 last year in which he said Millane was bleeding, the court has heard.
The accused said he and Millane had rough sex in the hotel room before he passed out in the shower.
"I crawled back into bed ... I thought Grace had left," the accused claimed.
When he woke, however, the accused said Millane was "lying on the floor, I saw she had blood coming from her nose".
'Somebody with blood on their feet moved around the room'
One potential bloodied area was 70cm in diameter and also had some "circular smearing within it", Crenfeldt said.
A smaller area of possible blood staining was found near the wardrobe, the court heard.
That was 30cm in diameter and a more defined circular shape, Crenfeldt said.
She said this smaller circle "could have come from the base of a circular object, like a bucket".
No buckets were found in the apartment during the police search.
Police used luminol to test for blood in the CityLife hotel where Grace Millane died.
She noticed no pulling or scuffing on the top layer of the carpet but "red staining" on the underside of the carpet was found and the concrete floor also showed "probable blood staining".
