Wife shot husband minutes after 111 call, court hears

Dale Wickham denies murdering husband John at their Massey home. Photo / Michael Craig

A woman called police to say her husband attacked her and then minutes later killed him with a shotgun blast to the chest at close range, a court heard yesterday.

Dale Wickham, 60, made the emergency call at 7.17pm last October to say her husband, John Wickham, had tried to throttle her and had thrown a bottle of spirits at her.

Within six minutes he was lying dead face down in their Massey home, the murder trial in the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.

She denies murder, claiming self-defence.

During the call, which was played to the court, Wickham told the operator there was no one else with them but she was all right, and hung up the phone.

When officers arrived at their Massey house at 7.23 they found Mr Wickham dead. A shotgun was lying broken open, with one shot fired, 1.5m away from his body.

Wickham told police her husband had been abusive, she was frightened and had "had enough".

Crown prosecutor Moana Schwalger said the couple lived in separate rooms and had different living areas. There were a number of stressful factors in their relationship - she suffered multiple sclerosis while Mr Wickham suffered heart problems.

He also had a strained relationship with their two sons.

Ms Schwalger said after making the 111 call, Wickham went into her room, where she kept the loaded gun hidden.

She told police she remembered pointing the gun at him but did not remember pulling the trigger.

The prosecutor said Wickham must have made a "conscious" decision to release the safety mechanism.

A search of her bedroom revealed a metal hammer, an antique-style curved knife and an unloaded smaller shotgun hidden under her bedding.

She'd called police before, alleging he'd grabbed her around the throat after she accused him of hiding money from her. He denied it and they were separated for the night.

She said it was a one-off incident and told staff at a welfare agency she didn't need their help.

But in early October, she called her case manager to say "things weren't great".

The court heard Mr Wickham had spoken about helping her to commit suicide, an arrangement she said never existed.

In the days before the shooting she told family and friends of her fears, that she was keeping the guns, and visited her GP in an "upset state".

Ms Schwalger said the evidence would show Mr Wickham's death was a "deliberate killing". The Crown case was Wickham was not acting in self-defence because she wasn't in imminent danger when she pulled the trigger. Deadly force could be used in self-defence only when someone was in danger of losing their own life.

"The Crown says this certainly isn't the case here."

When Wickham spoke to the 111 operator she wasn't too concerned and was told police were on the way.

"There was no need to confront John Wickham with a firearm. Even if the accused honestly believed he was a danger to her, shooting him in the chest at short range was not reasonable in the circumstances."

Wickham's barrister Michele Wilkinson-Smith will argue the shooting was in self-defence.

She said the 111 call aggravated him and he began making threats to "bash her head with a brick" and put her in the pool with the pool cover on. Wickham got the gun and told him to "just go. Just leave".

When he was close she must have pulled the trigger, "with fatal consequences", she said.

The trial has been set down for three weeks.