Jail mate backs claims of secret witness

By ALISON HORWOOD

A lawyer for Witness A has a signed document backing claims that police pushed their secret witness into giving false evidence against Scott Watson at the Sounds double-murder trial.

The document was sent to the lawyer from a man who says he became concerned after overhearing a conversation between Witness A and two detectives in a North Island prison.

The man, who contacted the Weekend Herald this week, said he and Witness A spent time in the same prison wing late last year. He claims that he was in the visiting room when he heard police telling Witness A that he could not recant his damning evidence against Watson.

"[Witness A] knew the Court of Appeal hearing was coming up and he wanted to give evidence that what he said during the trial was a lie.

"Basically they said to him, if he didn't go along with what he said during the trial they would make life very difficult for him," the man told the Herald. "They said to him, 'Stick to your original story'."

His letter to the lawyer, which included his name and signature, gave details of the conversation and his belief that Witness A was under pressure from the police. He said the letter was written without any prompting from Witness A.

"I wanted to do it. I felt he got a raw deal from the police and I wanted to help."

Last week, in a Weekend Herald exclusive, Witness A said his evidence against Watson was a lie and that he had been pressured by police to give false testimony. The revelations prompted calls for an inquiry.

Witness A was one of two former jail mates of Watson who gave evidence during his $5 million trial in the High Court at Wellington last year.

Witness A described how Watson demonstrated on him the way he forced Olivia Hope to submit, then strangled her. "The bitch fought back," he told the jury Watson had confided in him.

Witness A has an extensive history of crime and mental health problems.

After the trial, Witness A received no payment from police but was moved to a small North Island town to begin a new life. He fled when a gang - which he and Watson had battled in Christchurch's Addington Prison - tracked him down.

Witness A told two lawyers and Watson's counsel, Bruce Davidson, that his evidence had been false and he wanted to recant. His allegations were not taken any further because he backed out of signing an affidavit.

Last week, Witness A approached the Herald and agreed to a taped interview.

More than a year after Watson began a life sentence for killing Blenheim friends Olivia and Ben Smart, Witness A said he wanted to clear his conscience.

He said that during the two weeks he shared a cell at Addington with Watson, Watson never admitted any part in the pair's disappearance. He told the Herald the police pushed him into false testimony - an allegation now under investigation by the Police Complaints Authority.

An arrest warrant was issued for Witness A after he failed to appear in the Napier District Court this week on a charge of unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.

Herald Online feature: The Sounds murders