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11th October 2016, 10:09 PM | #281 |
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The arresting interview is meaningless really if cannot account for the exculpatory evidence. There are plenty of innocent people who have been bullied, browbeaten, intimidated and badgered into confessing crimes that they have not committed (Taina Pora is a good example) so I would not be at all surprised if Watson was dismantled under pressure. Remember this is the same Police who;
- Intimidated Guy Wallace into signing off an an identikit picture that he was not happy with and which he later retracted. - Threatened Guy Wallace that they were going to charge him with the murders if he didn't change his story. - Bullied Roz McNeiilly when she tried to tell Police that the Mystery Man was not Scott Watson. - Intimidated the Watson family's neighbours to try to isolate the Watson's from their community - Intimidated Sandy Watson (Scott's sister) by threatening her with having her children taken away if she didn't tell the truth. - Threatened the Erie Cove caretaker with jail time for cannabis cultivation if he didn't change his story about when Watson and Blade arrived there. - Told at least a dozen people who reported the mystery ketch that there was no ketch and they they were not interested in hearing about sightings. - Pressured a jailhouse informants to perjure themselves in the witness box. (one informant later retracted their testimony, the other one was rewarded with a car and a mobile phone) So, I don't trust anything the Police say, particularly Rob Pope who flat out lied to the public over this case. I don't trust the Police not to "embellish" the information they have given Wishart I don't trust Wishart full stop. He is a known liar and conspiracy theorist and in my household, his credibility is zero! The criminal investigative sections of the NZ Police are rotten to the core!! |
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12th October 2016, 12:25 AM | #282 |
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Wishart is a prick.
But it's been through trial, appeal, privy said nope. What do people actually want? |
12th October 2016, 12:26 AM | #283 |
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12th October 2016, 02:35 AM | #284 |
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12th October 2016, 02:45 AM | #285 |
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12th October 2016, 05:12 AM | #286 |
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A Royal Commission of Inquiry into the conviction of Scott Watson, along similar lines to that which was held into the Arthur Thomas case, and which found that serious Police misconduct took place.
The Commission should investigate the failure of the Police to follow "best practice" during the investigation into the disappearance of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, the conduct of the Crown Prosecutors, and the conduct of the trial judge Of particular concern are; 1. The failure of the Police forensic team to follow basic, fundamental protocols during the examination of the "Tiger Blanket" taken from Watson's yacht, in that the ESR examiner committed egregious errors of procedure that resulted in a very high risk of cross contamination. 2. The dishonest way in which the head of the Police inquiry, Inspector Rob Pope dealt with the public. His continual public lying about the Mystery Ketch in effect discouraged the public from reporting sightings of the ketch. 3. The ignoring of an important line of inquiry (the Mystery Ketch) which, despite Police attempts to dissuade the public, nonetheless brought in at least a dozen reliable sightings. 4. The ignoring of numerous witnesses whose stores covered various aspect of this cases, and of which much would have exculpated Watson. 5. The immediate focus on Scott Watson as the prime suspect to the exclusion of all others, and then the subsequent dismissing and ignoring of exclupatory evidence from key witnesses. 6. The systematic misuse of the media to create a situation where Watson was subject to "Trial by media" and convicted and found guilty in the court of public opinion. This completely tainted any potential jury pool. 7. The continual harassment of Watson's neighbours in an attempt to isolate the family from their community, and the harassment of Watson's family in an attempt to intimidate them into changing their stories. This, IMO, was time wasted that that might have been better spent investigating the Mystery Ketch 8. The use of coercion and intimidation to get key witnesses to change their stories, and the bullying and threats against those who stuck to their story 9. The complete evaporation of almost all of the main threads of evidence on which Watson was convicted. For example, the two main identification witnesses for the Crown, Wallace and McNeilly have stated that they were tricked by the police into making a wrongful identification of Watson. As a consequence, they have retracted their evidence. Additionally, the jailhouse informant known as "Secret Witness A", retracted his evidence 12 months after the trial, saying that under pressure from the Police, he made up his story of Watson confessing to him. 10. The Crown Prosecutor lied to the jury when he stated that "there was no ketch" , when he must have known that dozens of people reported it 11. The Crown Prosecutor presented facts not in evidence to the jury with their last minute representation of the "two-trip theory" 12. The conduct of the trial judge in allowing the Prosecutor to present the "two trip theory" at the last moment, which denied the defense any chance to examine the theory for rebuttal. ....... specific enough? |
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13th October 2016, 02:02 AM | #287 |
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That is an impressive list.
Ketch sightings succumb to facts, most were Alliance. Evonne Walsh described Alliance exactly. I am confident the hairs were planted, which makes that testimony relied upon by the jury and Nicola Crutchley unreliable. Unfortunately it is a red herring. Watson was the shaggy haired mystery man. Both were a boat builder from Picton who were a butt pain obsessing about drugs and breasts. |
13th October 2016, 03:03 AM | #288 |
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Not only "shaggy haired" but "unshaven" and "scruffily dressed" as well, so how do you explain his short haired, clean shaven tidily dressed appearance at 9:30 pm on New Year's eve when this photo was taken.
.. the answer is that you cannot. You keep faithfully regurgitating Wishart's flawed diatribe without explaining the evidence presented. You seem to be so taken with Wishart's nonsense that you have forgotten how to critically question evidence. For Watson to be the Mystery Man, DOZENS of witnesses have to be wrong about seeing him as early at 8pm when it was still daylight, because it is absolutely definite that Watson did not come ashore until after the above photo was taken, which was after dark. Its not as if the Mystery Man was some nondescript person sitting in a dimly lit corner of public bar minding his own business. It was daylight, and the man was acting strangely and crudely, so much so that a lot of people noticed. |
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13th October 2016, 03:33 AM | #289 |
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I thought he was innocent but changed my mind.
There seems to be a lot of vested interest built up to exonerate Watson, I am curious why you seem to be aligned, maybe I sense this because you are a local. People I know in Blenheim are in no doubt he is guilty, and reading Wishart hardly changes their minds. Gerald Hope's willingness to meet Watson does not make a lot of sense to me, he opposed parole, and that can only be because he has a case view. These cases are binary, true or false, I see the Watson case regrettably draining resources better applied to the Tamihere and Lundy cases. I wish he were innocent, and hope he is. I found it painful to adjust and fear the worst, mainly for his good father's sake. |
13th October 2016, 04:49 PM | #290 |
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13th October 2016, 06:56 PM | #291 |
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I am aligned for the same reasons I am aligned in the Lundy case; because I see evidence that clearly exculpates the convicted man being ignored. While you can argue about witness testimony, times and recollections, you cannot argue with the photographs taken in this case; one in partuclar. That photograph of Watson taken on the Mina Cornelia clearly shows Watson clean shaven, tidily dressed and with short hair. The people he was with testified to the fact that this is what his appearance was really like. They also testified to the time the photo was taken (after 9:30 pm on New Year's Eve) and that Watson did not go ashore until after that time, when it was dark
IMO, that photograph trumps any and all witness testimony as regards Watson's appearance on New Year's Eve, particularly when that testimony is conflicting and sketchy and given by people who had been drinking. The photograph, doesn't forget, doesn't get details wrong and doesn't get drunk. Chris Watson complained about this to Police.....(excerpts from the "Review of Detective Inspector Pinkham’s Report into the Mr C Watson Complaint Regarding Operation TAM Affidavit" dated 11 December 2008) "This complaint challenges paragraphs 8.26 (1) and (2) of Detective Inspector Pope’s affidavit on the basis that there existed photographic evidence that clearly showed that Scott Watson was short haired and clean shaven, but for natural growth. Mr Watson contends that there were three such photographs taken 31 December 1997, 8 and 12 January 1998 to illustrate his point." The Police reply was... "Notwithstanding the existence of photographs the list of witnesses as described above (complaint 3) provided various descriptions of the third person, believed by the enquiry team to be Watson, as having facial hair of varying length. Additionally, at least three witnesses spoken to by the enquiry team stated that they believed Watson had tidied himself up early in the new-year. Those witnesses include: Charlie Proctor, David Coard and Garry Kenny" "Notwithstanding the existence of photographs". In other words, they handwaved the photo away because it conflicted with the witness testimony (from witnesses who were admittedly drunk on the night and making their recollections days later) that described Watson unshaven, scruffy and shabbily dressed i.e. selecting the evidence that fits the outcome they want. Of course, the Police dismissed any witness testimony (from witnesses who were likely just as drunk as the ones they believed) when they said that the Mystery Man they saw was in the bar at 8pm (in the daytime)
Quote:
Scott Watson claims to have been clean-shaven over 31 December 1997/1 January 1998 while approximately 23 witnesses describe the "third person", believed to be Watson, as unshaven. Watson is known personally to several of these witnesses. The witnesses variously described that person as ‘unshaven, a little unshaven, had stubble or had two days growth’. Some of these persons either knew Watson, were introduced to him, or he introduced himself to them. On that basis at the time the affidavit was constructed there was a basis upon which Detective Inspector Pope could reasonably justify his comments at paragraph 8.9, notwithstanding that some of those witnesses had previously failed to identify Watson via photographic montage. Once again, the Police handwaved away witness testimony that did not fit with their preconceived conclusion of Watson's guilt. There are also a large number of people over and above the 23 who were interviewed informally by the Police and who were not listed in any witness lists. I know this because I know some of them personally. In each case (of the ones I know) they say that the Police lost interest in what they had to say when they said they had seen the scruffy man in the bar at any time before about 9pm. cullennz - I can provide you with the names of all formally interviewed 23 witnesses via PM if you wish. I will indicate which witnesses know Watson personally, which witnesses met Watson for the first time on the New Year's Eve, the dates they were interviewed by the Police, and which ones I know personally. |
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13th October 2016, 10:58 PM | #292 |
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We come from opposing principals.
First, there are three suggestions for the taxi 1. John Mullens 2. Donald Anderson 3. Guy Wallace. If 3 then guilty. Keith Hunter uses testimony years after the event to claim it was John Mullens but this is impossible because he was back on his boat. Smartcooky, you claim it is Donald Anderson so innocent. Wishart claims it is Guy Wallace so guilty. Are you with that so far? |
13th October 2016, 11:01 PM | #293 |
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'Scott Watson claims to have been clean-shaven over 31 December 1997/1 January 1998 while approximately 23 witnesses describe the "third person", believed to be Watson, as unshaven. Watson is known personally to several of these witnesses.'
Hi smartcooky. Has anything ever been done about those witnesses you mention who knew Watson and who also identified a 'mystery man' at the bar. Were any of them called by the Crown to give evidence, alternatively were any of their names provided to the defence before the trial? |
14th October 2016, 02:23 AM | #294 |
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IMO a. Donald Anderson took Watson to the Blade. It approximately fits Watson's claimed timeline, and Anderson remembered that the boat had the name of a weapon that he could not immediately recall. b. Guy Wallace took the Mystery Man with Ben and Olivia and two others to boats. the first three boarded Mystery Ketch. So you have two experienced water taxi drivers, and two eye-witnesses who all have to be wrong for Watson to not be exculpated by their testimony. Another couple of important considerations are that... 1. Blade was rafted with Mina Cornelia and Biancaand reasonably close to shore (within 80m IIRC). I don't know if you have ever slept on a boat rafted to other boats in the dead of a clear, calm night, but I promise you that cannot make the slightest noise without people on the next boat hearing you. I find it unbelievable that one drunk (and probably stoned) man would have been able to overpower two young people so silently that the people in the boats next door would not have heard. 2. The most common reported mooring position of the mystery ketch was 250-300m offshore. Guy Wallace would surely have known if he had only gone 80m as opposed to three to four times as far. |
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14th October 2016, 02:31 AM | #295 |
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Not as far as I know.
The Crown's key identification witnesses were Guy Wallace and Roz McNeilly. They were both working behind the bar at Furneaux Lodge so they got a good look at the mystery man. Both claim that the Police pressured and tricked them into identifying the Mystery Man as Scott Watson, and they have both since recanted their testimony. |
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14th October 2016, 02:32 AM | #296 |
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I understand the conundrums. Watson did walk on rafted boats, no argument. It is certainly surprising an angry Olivia would collapse asleep, she was clearly and correctly angry. But maybe she did.
Low tide was 5 though surprisingly Wishart says 4. Watson returned to Blade after failing to party on the rafted boats, cast loose, drifted out till the tide turned, instead of starting the old clanger set the sails, and the rest is unrecorded history. No ketch, no bushy haired stranger... You see, something happened. But far more problematic is the confluence of boat builders from Picton using the same language as Watson and the stranger. They converge. |
14th October 2016, 02:37 AM | #297 |
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OK. I can't hold it in any longer.
I was the hairy stranger. I thought why not make it look so obvious this Watson did it so even though I could have just gone I could have a laugh |
14th October 2016, 03:46 PM | #298 |
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The police don't even buy Wishart's timeline:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11640082 Are you basing your guilty verdict on Mark Lundy's lawyer? http://thespinoff.co.nz/featured/03-...en-and-olivia/ |
14th October 2016, 05:56 PM | #299 |
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The police timeline doesn't work and they never need to with juries. The key is to get the case past that first jury and most of the heavy lifting is done.
This worked with Thomas Tamihere Pora Bain and Lundy, and probably nearly with MacDonald. All the aforementioned are innocent so the timelines didn't matter a damn to 12 foolish citizens and true. Ross Burns wrote a reasonable review, surprising because he was an indolent defender of Lundy, that is well documented. But ultimately the worst form of public discourse is describing people as having views and opinions. These cases are driven by hard facts. It would be foolish to have an opinion whether Donald Anderson took Watson to Blade, it is a fact one way or another, and the case is settled when we discover what that fact is. |
15th October 2016, 12:46 AM | #300 | |||
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Here is an interesting interview by Mike Kalagher with Reg McManaway.
Mr McManaway saw the Mystery Ketch arrive just after he arrived around 4pm. He saw the scruffy Mystery Man working the boat He saw that same man again later in the bar annoying Ben and Olivia. He says that the Ketch was already gone when he got up at 7am the next morning, He saw Scott Watson on the Blade and spoke to him before he left at around 7:30 am (so much for the lying Police who said he left at 5am) So here we have a witness who saw both Watson and the Mystery man, and identified them as different people. More importantly, he put Ben and Olivia in contact with the scruffy Mystery Man well before they went on Guy Wallace's Naiad! |
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15th October 2016, 04:13 AM | #301 |
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15th October 2016, 05:15 AM | #302 |
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One dude?
He's one person (now unfortunately deceased) whose story adds to all other other "one dudes" who are telling a story that differs from both the Police and Wishart's BS narrative. Have you been actually reading this thread? Do you know anything at all about this case, or are you just going to continue to make stupid, pointless comments? |
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15th October 2016, 11:14 AM | #303 |
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The point of equilibrium has passed; satire and current events are now indistinguishable. |
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15th October 2016, 12:52 PM | #304 |
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15th October 2016, 01:17 PM | #305 |
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15th October 2016, 09:39 PM | #306 |
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In the mean time, here is a excellent analysis, a blow-by-blow description of the case, that shows just how flawed this investigation was.
http://trudyandtom.tripod.com/optam.htm |
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15th October 2016, 10:42 PM | #307 |
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15th October 2016, 11:49 PM | #308 |
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16th October 2016, 12:12 AM | #309 |
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16th October 2016, 01:43 AM | #310 |
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OK, I have just received a reply... "No he didn't. The police weren't interested and he wasn't called to testify. It was just buried with all the other evidence they buried." As for when it was made, I think it was around 2005 Still waiting for a reply to your other request. |
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16th October 2016, 01:58 AM | #311 |
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16th October 2016, 02:17 AM | #312 |
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16th October 2016, 02:50 AM | #313 |
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Reg describes a scruffy beard at 35 seconds, I'm not sure if this can be reconciled.
Wallace, as sober driver, describes his man as having short dark wavy hair. The further issues are Reg knows Watson's boat but not Watson. Ben and Olivia were on Tamarak before supposedly first sighting the mystery man, but Reg has them engaging in the pub. I will watch a few more times to figure it. |
16th October 2016, 05:37 AM | #314 |
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16th October 2016, 05:45 AM | #315 |
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16th October 2016, 01:52 PM | #316 |
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16th October 2016, 02:15 PM | #317 |
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All the reading I have done and every source I can find says the "Tiger Blanket" was only searched once, with all hairs and fibres being bagged and that subsequent searches were done of the contents of the bag.
The forensics procedures (and I use that last term very loosely) as regards the hair searches were haphazard and frankly, utterly appalling. Searching that bag twice, then later, searching the exemplars from Olivia and then a third search of the bagged hair immediately afterwards, on the same work table, by the same ESR examiner must surely border on criminal negligence. The hair evidence would be thrown out in almost any court in the world as soon as the ESR examiner admitted to what she did on the witness stand. |
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17th October 2016, 11:26 AM | #318 |
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Yes, I have been told the same about the Tiger Blanket only being searched once with all the hairs and fibres being bagged and that subsequent searches were done of the contents of the bag. Someone has asked if they were counted, on each occasion including after the hair brush hairs were introduced, you may know that - however, myself and those discussing this don't believe it was done. In the first instance, how it was taken from the yacht, whether there was photographing and careful searches done there, or not, is also a big issue.
This point of description has been reached in terms of how it might have led to contamination “never ascribe to malice what can be best explained by stupidity,” where also the size of the blanket and a large number of possible events within the laboratory might have led to innocent contamination. Finally, the standards of isolation and testing have since been changed, and there was the case mentioned in your link above where DNA was discovered pointing to the guilt of a man in Chch for 2 murders in the North Island where he had never been. Moreover, there is a copy of a September 2016 letter on here posted by Desert Fox on a separate thread - which identifies errors in dna recognition on hairs runs at around 11% in controlled conditions of a much higher standard than that employed in Watson and since abandoned. This is where the emphasis must go and fairly forcefully, also the video of Reg McManaway and any others like it have to be shoved in front of the Courts. Throwing away millions of words and pages of evidence leaves such evidence crucial and clear. One advance could be to look at best practice now and ask a testing laboratory an opinion - comparing best practice in the past, compared to now, and attempt to apply Bayes testing to the probability of contamination. I could possibly advise of someone to help with the later if there is available a large enough data base - in fact I will check on that. Cheers. |
17th October 2016, 07:28 PM | #319 |
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There are a number of observers, Sampson and Wishart included, who seriously underestimate the importance of the Mystery Ketch, or rather, the lack of this ketch, to the Police & Crown case against Watson. If the ketch does not exist, then it would mean Guy Wallace must be mistaken about where he took Ben & Olivia, and since every other yacht had been eliminated, that would only leave Blade. However, if the ketch did exist, then Guy Wallace's testimony becomes key in blowing a gaping hole in the Crown's case.
It is not surprising that both the Police and the Crown wanted to discount the existence of the ketch. They had a report of a yacht leaving at around 5 am on New Year's Day (which I will get to later), and they wanted to make sure that it was not the Ketch. They did this by contacting each of the boat owners who had been at Endeavour Inlet on New Year's Eve, and checking their departure times. This, they believed, would eliminate every yacht, leaving only Watson's Blade, which they then concluded, must be the 5 am departure. However, it was not enough. They kept receiving inconvenient reports of a ketch, so they were forced to go to extraordinary lengths to deny its existence; those lengths included; 1. The "loss" of evidence submitted to Police by people who saw it. This includes photographs, negatives and video footage of the Mystery Ketch, none of which the Police ever returned to their owners despite numerous requests to do so. 2. The failure to turn over important interview documents to the defence and the failure to present those documents at trial. 3. The failure to follow up on public sightings of the ketch despite numerous reports. When people contacted the Police with information, they were told that Police "already had the boat they were looking for and their information wasn't needed" 4. Lying to the public by saying they were looking for any sighting of the ketch when they clearly were not interested. 5. Both of the Crown prosecutors lying to the jury, telling them the ketch did not exist when they must have known that it did. Here are the first two documents that the defence never saw and that were never presented at trial; Document 1 Document 2 The owner of the vessel ‘Unicorn’ had a fox terrier called Jazz. The ‘Trooper’ had only two people aboard and did not leave until after 8 am. These times accord well with Scott Watson's own Police statement about the time he left... Document 3 So we have the owner of the Yacht (Watson) saying that he left between 6 and 7, and two independent witnesses who corroborated that time. Add to that the statement by Reg McManaway, and that is three. We also have none of the boat owners who testified at trial (about 150 of them) saying that they left at that time, and that means the yacht that the Document 1 and Document 2 witnesses saw is unaccounted for. If its not the Blade, then its another unaccounted for yacht! Of course, these people could be mistaken, so the Crown Solicitor requested the Police to check on this... Document 4 So we have confirmation that the Document 1 witness was seeing "Trooper", and that the times were cross-confirmed as being between 6 am and 7 am. This was not looking good for the Crown case. If this yacht was Blade, then the 5am departure could only be a another yacht which they had not accounted for. No wonder the Crown suppressed this evidence!! Finally, we get to another witness interview, which again was not given to the defence, and again the witness was never called to testify at trial Document 5 - 40 foot ship (Blade is 26 feet) - a coloured stripe (Blade had no stripe) - possibly two masts (Blade has only one mast) - a masthead light (Blade was not fitted with a masthead light) Anyone thinking that this 5 am departure time was wrong should understand that You can't see a masthead light in daytime. Sunrise on Endeavour Inlet on New Year's Day 1998 was a 5:54 am. At 5am it was still dark, at 6:30 the sun is well up. Clearly the Police's contention that Watson took Blade out of Endeavour Inlet at 5 am was false This lie was told, not so much to make Watson appear as if he was "getting out of town" but to discount another unknown yacht from being the 5 am departure. When Crown Prosecutor Nicola Crutchley opened the trial by saying “The police began to find out all the names of all the people who had been at Furneaux Lodge on New Years eve, and who had arrived by boat…… These investigations were to follow up every such boat and their occupants” she was lying. When Crown Prosecutor Paul Davidson QC said during the trial “No need to look over the horizon for a mystery ketch. Never was one. Its a fiction,” When Crown Prosecutor Paul Davidson QC said in his closing "Now I won’t go into all of the evidence by which the crown says other boats at Furneaux can be eliminated. But one of the core circumstantial planks of the crown case is the elimination of all the other boats that can be identified as being there.” he was lying. |
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If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong. Its TRE45ON season... convict the F45CIST!! |
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18th October 2016, 01:55 AM | #320 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 11,941
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There is constructive detail in your post, and the simplest crime theory keeps Watson out of it.
Getting rid of bodies is essentially impossible with the weighting resources available. I have spoken to Wishart and his crime requires Watson to gather in an accomplice on the boat, and more on land to remove bodies in Shakespeare Bay. He is certain of his repainting near Waikawa with the accomplice later New Years day. He reassigns the Donald Anderson trip with Watson to pre midnight. I must agree that the above scenario is a spectacular result, buying so much silence as a loner. On the other hand the character cast at 4 am in Furneau was down to a handful. I thought the case was solved, but will add your Ws's to the mix. I personally hope Watson is innocent because it adds strongly to the proposition all recent ministers of justice should burn in hell. |
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