Jury considering verdict in pensioner murder trial

A jury retired this morning to consider verdicts in the trial of double murder accused David Konia.

Konia, 53, has denied murdering longtime pensioner friends Ted Ferguson, 73, and Margaret Waldin, 76, in Mr Ferguson's Feilding flat on May 27 last year.

The judge summed up the evidence in the High Court at Palmerston North this morning before sending out the jury to consider its verdicts.

The Crown claims Konia stabbed to death the pair in a "mad psychotic episode" but was calculating and planned the crime thoughtfully so he wouldn't leave evidence.

But defence counsel Fergus Steedman submitted Konia said he knew things about the murders because he wanted to seem important.

"He is charged with murder effectively because of what he's said, not because of what he's done," Mr Steedman said.

Despite the brutal nature of the killings, there was no forensic or DNA evidence pointing to Konia's guilt, he said.

- NZPA