KEY POINTS:
Murder accused Daniel Moore will have to wait another two months before a hearing into whether he should stand trial for the murder of Tony Stanlake will finish.
Moore, 22, is accused of murdering Mr Stanlake, 62, whose mutilated, handless body washed up at Red Rocks Beach near Wellington on July 9 last year.
The Crown says Moore murdered Mr Stanlake to gain control of the profits of the pair's cannabis growing operation run from Moore's flat in the Miramar.
Moore's depositions hearing began in the Wellington District Court on January 23. After a week and half it was adjourned for four months, resuming on Monday.
Yesterday Crown prosecutor Grant Burston told Justices of the Peace Ian Symonds and Bernadette Pool that the defence required completion of Institute of Environmental and Scientific Research (ESR) reports before the preliminary hearing could finish. ESR had indicated the reports would be ready in six weeks. The hearing was adjourned to July 31 and Moore remanded in custody.
The expert witnesses' evidence will be handed to the court. No cross-examination is anticipated so the final part of the hearing should end on July 31.
Peter Leach, a 22-year-old butcher, has pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of murder and was sentenced to 15 months' jail. Leach disposed of Mr Stanlake's hands.
At this week's hearing, a storeman who worked with Leach last year told the court he saw a man hand Leach a bag at the back of the building, which Leach then threw into a rubbish skip inside.
During the first stage of the depositions hearing Leach told the court Moore had given him a bag at his work to throw away.
He said Moore had told him he had killed Mr Stanlake in the garage and Leach helped him, out of friendship and loyalty.
The hearing was also told about Mr Stanlake's involvement in drugs and pornography.
- NZPA
