Secret tapes sprung at Watson trial

By Eugene Bingham and Alison Horwood

Secret tapes of bugged telephone calls will be produced in the Crown's bid to convict Scott Watson of the Marlborough Sounds murders.

Day one of the high-profile murder case in the High Court at Wellington brought this new prosecution evidence not revealed at the preliminary hearing in Blenheim last year.

Crown prosecutor Nicola Crutchley told a packed courtroom that teenager Olivia Hope was the victim of Watson's determined efforts to snare a sexual conquest during New Year's Eve celebrations.

Her friend, Ben Smart, was probably killed by necessity because of what happened once they were on Watson's yacht, Blade.

Watson, a 27-year-old former Picton man, denies murdering the Blenheim pair on New Year's Day, 1998, after celebrations at Furneaux Lodge in the Sounds.

A metal box of audiotapes and three warrants allowing police to intercept communications were presented to the court as an exhibit, but it was not stated who the taped phone conversations were between or what they said.

Miss Crutchley said Watson had gone to the lodge intent on gaining the company of a young woman.

His sexual advances were shunned all night but he came across the opportunity he had been looking for when Ben and Olivia boarded a water taxi on which Watson was a passenger.

They had been left without a bed, and about 4 am accepted an offer to stay on Watson's yacht.

"An opportunity presented itself to [Watson] of a young, attractive blond woman coming aboard his boat willingly and seeking a place to stay," said Miss Crutchley.

"Here was an opportunity that had eluded him all evening."

Over the two hours it took Miss Crutchley to outline the case against him, Watson, dressed in a dark suit, yellow shirt and patterned tie, stared straight ahead, flanked by two prison guards.

Members of the Hope, Smart and Watson families sat in silence in the public gallery.

Miss Crutchley showed maps and a holidaymaker's video of the party at the lodge, pausing the film to point out haunting images of Ben and Olivia socialising.

The jury of seven men and five women was told that strands of head hair were found on a tiger-motif blanket inside Watson's yacht and scientific examination "strongly supported" the conclusion that they were Olivia's.

"The inference to be drawn is that Olivia Hope must have been on this yacht in order for the hairs to have got on the blanket."

Forensic tests also found 176 scratch marks, consistent with fingernail scratches, on a forward hatch.

But the rest of the inside of the yacht, including all hard surfaces, the underside of a table and cassette tape covers, had been cleaned extensively.

Watson has maintained he had no contact with the pair that night.

"The wiping down of the surfaces meant fingerprint officers were not able to find any fingerprints other than those of the people who had done the cleaning - Scott Watson, and his sister Sandra," Miss Crutchley said.

"Immediately after January 1 [he] removed any trace of Ben and Olivia from his boat to make sure there was nothing to connect himself to Ben and Olivia, and, thus, their deaths."

He changed the colour of the yacht, removed a wind vane and dug out pieces of foam on two squabs.

The trial is expected to last three months.