Lundy was 'nice and pleasant' - prostitute

Mark Lundy in the dock on day three of his retrial. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Key facts:
• A man staying at the same Petone motel as Lundy said his car was parked outside at about 5.30pm but gone four hours later
• Lundy ordered a prostitute at 11.45pm on August 29, 2000 and paid her $140 cash
• The woman told the court Lundy talked about his wife and daughter before they slept together
• She said Lundy smelled of booze but did not seem drunk
• She noticed a "bulging" suitcase when she walked into the room
• Lundy checked out of his motel just after 8am on August 30 - an hour earlier than usual - and the manager said he looked "well"

A prostitute who slept with Mark Lundy hours before he allegedly drove home and bludgeoned his wife Christine and 7-year-old daughter Amber to death said he was "nice and pleasant" during their liaison.

The new Crown case is that Lundy saw customers for his kitchen sink business in Wellington on August 29, 2000. He slept with the prostitute in his Petone motel room late that night before travelling back to Palmerston North in the early hours to commit the two murders.

The woman - whose name is suppressed - said the defendant gave her $140 cash and she left just before 1am.

None of the sordid details were traversed in court but the witness told the jury about how parts of the evening played out.

"We chatted for a while... we talked about his business, his wife and his daughter," she said.

The woman also remembered walking into the room and noticing a full-looking suitcase.

"It looked like it was bulging, like when you over-pack stuff," she said.

The defence also asked her about a bottle of rum, which she remembered seeing in the room three-quarters empty.

In a police interview she said Lundy "stunk of alcohol" but told the court today he did not seem drunk.

Like many others who gave evidence she agreed Lundy had been "nice and pleasant".

A client of Lundy's Neeltje Boere was glowing in her praise of the alleged double murderer.

"If he has a problem he'll sort it out immediately... I've never seen him lose his temper. He's very gentle and very nice."

Bronwyn Neal, a friend of Lundy and Christine, had helped them design a prospectus as Lundy tried to attract investors to his Hawkes Bay winery.

They were even looking at plowing money into another winery in Masterton, according to the former graphic designer.

But Mrs Neal said she never saw financial pressure take its toll on the couple.

She agreed with Lundy's lawyer David Hislop, QC, when he described them as "very much in love".

"They'd finished each other's sentences," the witness said.

Was Amber the apple of her father's eye? "Ridiculously so," said Mrs Neal.

But the girl's godmother Caroline Durham was not so sure.

"I'd say it was quite grim on the financial front. My understanding was they were paying a lot in interest... it wasn't a happy picture," she told the jury.

"It was Mark's project... I don't think she was very happy."

The High Court in Wellington also heard of Lundy's increasing "panic" as he could not get hold of his wife on the phone on the morning of August 30.

Mrs Durham said he called her from Wellington asking if she knew where Mrs Lundy was.

To calm him, she offered to go to the Lundy home on Karamea Cres; a task that was taken up by her husband Stuart.

When he was met by a police cordon, he immediately called Lundy.

"I didn't know what'd happened. I told him he better get his arse home... he said something along the lines of 'holy s**t, what's happened?"'

Police on the scene told Mr Durham to hang up because Lundy's father Bill was trying to get hold of him.

"He sounded like he was on his way home because he was abusing traffic or whoever and I could hear vehicles in the background," Mr Durham said.

The court has heard from some 50 witnesses already and the Crown expects to call about 100 more.

The trial before Justice Simon France is set down for nine weeks.