David Charles Benbow denies murdering Michael McGrath and is standing trial at the High Court in Christchurch. Photo / Kai Schwoerer, Stuff, Pool
David Charles Benbow denies murdering Michael McGrath and is standing trial at the High Court in Christchurch. Photo / Kai Schwoerer, Stuff, Pool
A builder who vanished nearly six years ago and who police allege was murdered by an old schoolmate, was socially-anxious, stashed cash inside the walls of his house, left $205,000 in the bank, shunned cellphones and the internet, and lived outside of society’s norms, a court heard today.
Ex-prison officer David Benbow, 54, denies murdering Christchurch builder Michael McGrath who disappeared on May 22, 2017.
McGrath’s body has never been found – and nor has a murder weapon - despite widespread searches of rivers, waterways, and the city dump.
Benbow’s defence team yesterday warned the jury at the High Court in Christchurch of “investigative bias” and “tunnel vision” from police early in their investigations who they claim were trying to find evidence to support their case.
The Crown alleges Benbow murdered his friend McGrath just weeks after learning he was seeing his ex-partner Joanna Green and telling a counsellor he wanted to “annihilate” him.
It alleges Benbow lured McGrath to his semi-rural lifestyle property in Halswell on Monday, May 22, 2017 and used his .22 semi-automatic rifle, with suppressor and sub-sonic ammunition, to shoot him dead and then dispose of his body.
While the Crown accepts there is no body, no murder weapon, and little forensic evidence in the case, it says there is a strong circumstantial case consisting of many threads that, when taken together, show Benbow is guilty of McGrath’s murder beyond reasonable doubt.
Younger brother Simon McGrath started giving evidence yesterday afternoon and continued today, describing Michael as a gifted, hard-working builder, all-around good guy, and dependable “creature of habit”.
Today, Simon was cross-examined by defence lawyer Kathy Basire.
Christchurch builder Michael Craig McGrath, 49, was last seen at his home in Halswell, Christchurch, in May 2017.
Given that Michael McGrath had lived amidst a protracted home renovation, stashed cash inside his walls, had $205,000 in his bank account and yet lived on a sickness benefit, while not using a cellphone or home internet, hand-washed clothes, and drove a car that wasn’t registered or warranted, Basire asked if it was “fair to say he operated outside of social norms?”
He described his bachelor brother as “very frugal” and who usually paid for things in cash.
Basire also asked if he knew his brother had been diagnosed with social phobia or social anxiety around the time he’d undergone an operation for varicose veins and the Canterbury earthquakes.
He replied that he didn’t know, but said that he might have opened up to other people.
Michael was “his own man”, Simon told the court, but he never saw him as an anxious person.
The last time he saw him, Michael had seemed in high spirits, he said.
“There wasn’t one part of me that thought he wasn’t his usual self... He seemed very, very happy.”
Michael McGrath’s brother Simon giving evidence at the High Court trial in Christchurch. Photo / Alden Williams, Stuff, Pool
He also admitted not knowing that Michael had been in a relationship with Green although he had “suspected something was up”.
Michael had often joined his brother on Saturdays to watch rugby and socialise at a local pub but he had not been going much in the months leading up to his disappearance.
The court earlier heard how Benbow had allegedly been devastated after learning that Green, his partner of 17 years, had taken their two children and left earlier in 2017.
On Tuesday, May 23, 2017, when Michael didn’t show up for the usual dinner at their mother’s house in Halswell, Simon thought it was unusual.
Within minutes, Green had phoned his mother, saying she thought something had happened to McGrath and that “Dave had done something”.
After going to Michael’s house and not finding him home, Simon became increasingly concerned about his whereabouts.
Around 1am, he parked outside Benbow’s house and phoned him. It went straight to voicemail and he left, the court heard.
Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier gave an opening address outlining the Crown case against David Charles Benbow who denies murder. Photo / Kai Schwoerer, Press, Pool
But the next morning, Benbow phoned him back, the court heard. Simon asked him about Michael’s whereabouts but claimed he didn’t make any accusations, but rather asked him some direct questions.
Later he questioned how Benbow had reacted after the disappearance.
“I would assume if you’ve got nothing to hide you would come around with some concern,” Simon said.
Lead defence counsel Marc Corlett KC yesterday said that “within hours” of McGrath’s disappearance, Green had pointed the finger of blame at Benbow “and the police duly obliged”.
But despite teams of police spending thousands of hours investigating “trying to find any evidence they could to fit their theory”, they could not find any, Corlett said.
The trial, before Justice Jonathan Eaton, continues.
