Witness certain pair boarded moored ketch

By Eugene Bingham and Alison Horwood

A man who shared the last water taxi ride with Olivia Hope and Ben Smart says the couple boarded a large white ketch with a longish-haired lone sailor.

Hayden Roy Morresey gripped the railing of the yacht as the Blenheim couple stepped off the inflatable with the stranger in the early hours of New Year's Day, 1998.

Under cross-examination, he said the boat he clasped was a double-masted large yacht, with a predominantly white hull. It was anchored alone.

The Crown alleges that Olivia and Ben disappeared after boarding Scott Watson's reddish-brown 8.6m single-masted sloop, which was rafted to two other yachts.

Mr Morresey, his girlfriend Sarah Anne Dyer, and the water taxi driver, Guy Wallace, are the last known witnesses to see Olivia and Ben alive.

He told the Watson doublemurder trial that he and Miss Dyer went to the Furneaux Lodge jetty for a ride to their bach along the shore from Furneaux.

As the driver started the engine of the water taxi, a lone man stepped on board and sat on the left side in the middle. Mr Morresey and Miss Dyer sat opposite each other towards the front.

As the inflatable was about to leave, another couple hopped on board.

The court has heard that these people were Olivia's sister, Amelia, and her friend Richard Anthony Goddard. At the yacht Tamarack, they disembarked and Olivia and Ben took their seats.

Mr Morresey said that after Olivia and Ben got on board, the lone man spoke to Olivia.

"[He] said, 'You could come and stay on my boat,' or words to that effect," said Mr Morresey.

When the Naiad pulled up to the man's boat after a journey of two minutes, Mr Morresey steadied the craft by extending his right arm up to grasp the vertical bar of the railing.

Mr Morresey, who told the court he was 6ft 4in (1.95m) tall, said he had to lift his buttocks 20cm to 30cm off the pontoon of the water taxi to reach.

The single man boarded the yacht, followed by the young couple, who used the pontoon to step up.

Questioned by prosecutor Kieran Raftery about the man's description, Mr Morresey said he was about 5ft 8in (1.72m) tall, and aged between 25 and 35. From the back, the man's hair was brown and wavy. He did not see his face enough to tell whether it was shaven or not.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Mike Antunovic, Mr Morresey agreed that he would describe the man's hair as wavy and "longish."

Mr Antunovic questioned Mr Morresey about whether he had ever spoken to Mr Wallace, who told the police early in the inquiry that he had dropped the couple at a ketch. He had not.

He then quizzed Mr Morresey about his recollections of the yacht Olivia and Ben boarded.

Mr Antunovic: Was it your impression at the time that that boat was a ketch?

Mr Morresey: Yes.

And you were quite clear about that from your own recollection of these events? - Yes.

He said the boat had been anchored on its own, and did not have any dinghy or tender attached to the back.

Miss Dyer told the court she had no recollection of the yacht, apart from the fact her boyfriend had to reach up to hold it while the passengers got off.

Neither could she remember much about the lone man, except for his average height and "normal Kiwi accent."

Miss Dyer said she and Mr Morresey were dropped off within minutes of leaving the yacht. Shortly afterwards, they went to sleep and she estimated the time to be 4.20 am.

Earlier in the day, the court heard from Mr Goddard who could not identify the man either.

Once they arrived at Tamarack, he heard Olivia shouting about who should and should not be on the yacht. "She was saying there were already too many people on the boat and I should not be on there and she was worried about the safety of everyone else," said Mr Goddard.