Found Deceased NEW ZEALAND - Grace Millane, 22, British backpacker, Auckland, 1 Dec 2018 *Arrest* #2

[legal.beagle]

"Mint Drycleaner employee, Zara Subrayan, was working the day the accused dropped off two bags on December 3.

In the morning, a small black Countdown bag full of clothes was dropped off.

The accused asked for a heavy-duty wash, saying the items were muddy, the witness told the jury.

Later that day, the accused returned with the black sports bag the jury saw on the CCTV images earlier today. He asked for it to be washed along with the contents.

Subrayan said the sports bag contained some clothes and two bed sheets."

 

[LucyRocket]

"Defence lawyer Ian Brookie tells the court there were five occasions on December 2 where the accused left the CityLife Hotel and returned, which were not shown to the jury on the CCTV timeline.

"This is not intended to be a criticism of you but [it is] not every single coming and going of the accused," Brookie says.

Detective Adam Bicknell confirmed there were five occasions where the accused was not captured on CCTV."

What is the defence even getting at here.

Because it was obviously distressing to Grace's parents, and will be emotive for the jury, to see how much time he spent in the apartment while Grace was there. That was heartbreaking for me too, and upped his level of psycho in my mind while reading the CCTV timeline. He's taking that away by saying that our perception of the time he was there is inaccurate

 

[LucyRocket]

Grace Millane murder trial: Timeline of murder accused's activity after alleged killing

CCTV Timeline

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Under New Zealand law, a suspect and victim can ask to have their name supressed making it illegal to publish it.
This protects people who have not been proven guilt and also ensures that the jury is not prejudiced by the media coverage.

Lawyers for the man accused of killing Grace said they would request a suppression order from a high court after the order was refused by the Auckland district court.

Grace murder trial could be at risk after Google 'illegally' names suspect

So it seems the accused didn't think he'd get a fair trial if his name was known and his defence team agreed or suggested it, interesting.

I notice from checking out news articles from Dec 2018 and Jan 2019, the accused was 26 yrs when he appeared in court on the 16 Dec 2018 but on 15 Jan 2019, when he appeared before the court to make his plea of not guilty, he was 27 yrs old.


Not of fan of Daily Mail but they do acquire more pictures and longer cctv footage shown at trials than other news outlets.

Jury Grace Millane murder trial see pictures of suitcase where her body found Auckland New Zealand | Daily Mail Online

 

[LucyRocket]

How did he get the suitcase in the car? He's struggling to wheel the trolley when the suitcases are on it

 

[mrjitty]

I am absolutely blown away by the CCTV coverage. I live in Auckland and had no clue it was this prevalent; it's really reassuring to know actually.

Amazing huh?

My guess is they had a good idea which cameras to check thanks to his phone and eftpos transactions

But even still, they must have reviewed lots of footage from businesses he did not go to

 

[sunnynz]

When the detective met the accused in the crown plaza hotel - and then subsequently went down to the food court to interview him - I assume that the crown plaza was the accused’s place of work? Is the footage from the police interview also from that day? The accused is wearing a white shirt and black waistcoat that certainly looks like a hotel uniform. Either that or he has terrible dress sense.

This Crowne plaza staff member certainly looks like he’s wearing the same outfit the accused is wearing in the interview.

 

[mrjitty]

Back to the reasons for suppression of the defendant's name. Imo, after these last few days of the trial, two possible reasons stand out to me.

1) create a real risk of prejudicing a fair trial - imo, this guy has a tainted history which will come out after the trial, he's a prolific liar and con man, testimonies of his past dealings with people in NZ and Australia could prejudice a 'fair trial' for the murder of Grace, (the disposing of her body and possessions, lying and misleading police.) His defense have ensured his unsavoury past won't be revealed quite just yet even though, we've seen and heard the worst! The defense is just going through the motions, squeaking when required, retraumatized the witnesses who had the misfortune to date this lowlife and poor Grace's family.

2) lead to the identification of another person who has name suppression, - protecting the identity of the women who've come to testify in court. Imo, this is the main reason, to protect these brave women who've come of their own free will to testify.

RSBM

This is good analysis, but devils advocate - in the rape trial of Rikards, Schollum and Shipton, the accused Schollum and Shipton did not have name suppression even though they were already in jail for rape. Only the evidence of the prior rape convictions was kept from the jury. So prior misdeeds would not normally be enough.

I wonder if the international media frenzy led to a very cautious approach in this instance.

 

[Pepper77]

Remember the grovelling post the accused made - months in advance of this tragedy - to all his friends, admitting to past mistakes and begging for their forgiveness? Well, I Googled the text the other night and the exact same wording was stripped right from Quora in its entirety. The passage has now gone from Quora, but it was definitely there - and had originally been posted in 2014.

My personal opinion is that the accused is a compulsive liar - nothing, absolutely nothing, he has told anyone stacks up. I'm still wondering how he could afford this lifestyle.

 

[Pepper77]

View attachment 214930

This Crowne plaza staff member certainly looks like he’s wearing the same outfit the accused is wearing in the interview.

Yes, that's definitely the uniform that wait / bar staff wear.

 

[mrjitty]

View attachment 214930

This Crowne plaza staff member certainly looks like he’s wearing the same outfit the accused is wearing in the interview.

Yes. And I think we can assume he was working locally.

But what still makes not much sense to me is how he was affording to live in a serviced apartment in central AKL.

The quoted price of £196 pw in one article seems low, but maybe they do have long term rentals there?

I checked AKL one bedroom apartment rentals quickly, and while <$400p/w is on the low side, it seems you can get something from $500 up

 

[mrjitty]

So if they already had the footage of him taking in the suitcase the next morning, they must be withholding the footage from him of Grace going back to his apartment with him the night before. Interesting tactic.

This is why the Crown doesn't fear his version.

He lied to them the whole time. No reason to believe his most recent explanations. They will be savage in closing.

Judge's instructions and summing up will also be very interesting.

 

[mrjitty]

I think an obvious issue for the defence is that the claim of consensual strangulation isn't backed by any evidence at trial, unless the accused testifies

 

[sunnynz]

Yes. And I think we can assume he was working locally.

But what still makes not much sense to me is how he was affording to live in a serviced apartment in central AKL.

The quoted price of £196 pw in one article seems low, but maybe they do have long term rentals there?

I checked AKL one bedroom apartment rentals quickly, and while <$400p/w is on the low side, it seems you can get something from $500 up

There’s no way a bartender at a hotel can afford to be living at the city life. He seems to have both cash and credit at his disposal- he readily pays for everything on dates plus all the expenses of the clean up, rental cars, suitcases etc. where is he getting it from? He’s clearly an alcoholic and used to drinking in bars to a point of having to be carried to his room. That isn’t a cheap hobby.

So either family are funding all of this - but initial reports contradicted this, he’s estranged from parents and his grandfather only lent him a couple of hundred dollars.

Is he doing something illegal to earn cash - drug dealing maybe?

Is he a sex worker getting paid in cash?

Maybe he’s committing benefit fraud?

 

[mrjitty]

I'm beginning to think that he was building up to wanting to kill, even though he hadn't actually formulated a plan for body disposal until afterwards. I think it was more than recklessness. Possibly a hatred of women and Grace being a traveller presented him with the opportunity of getting away with it. He obviously wasn't aware of the hotel cameras.

I agree

He was building up to it. He reminds me of Tabak in the Jo Yeates murder.

There was a lot of acting up but then his first murder was opportunistic. The other female witness is lucky to be alive IMO.

 

[jamjim]

Thank you for posting the rest of the updates guys! As if this guy started talking about bodies on a 'date' FFS.

 

[Grapey]

Some vehicles you rent from Apex have been manufactured or equipped with on-board devices so as to be connected to the internet (connected car) which allow us to send commands to and receive certain information from the vehicle, including geolocation data from a global positioning system (GPS).

Privacy Policy - Apex Car Rentals New Zealand

I think literally all of his movements would have been tracked in that rental car. What an absolutely dumby. Probably thought it was smart to pay in cash for the shovel and bolts Wonder if he was trying to be smart and left his phone at home on that trip.

 

[stephaniejanes]

Some vehicles you rent from Apex have been manufactured or equipped with on-board devices so as to be connected to the internet (connected car) which allow us to send commands to and receive certain information from the vehicle, including geolocation data from a global positioning system (GPS).

Privacy Policy - Apex Car Rentals New Zealand

I think literally all of his movements would have been tracked in that rental car. What an absolutely dumby. Probably thought it was smart to pay in cash for the shovel and bolts Wonder if he was trying to be smart and left his phone at home on that trip.

Not even! He's seen playing on his phone as he walks out of the hardware store, shovel in hand. All this CCTV and witness testimony is so damning.

 

[Grapey]

Not even! He's seen playing on his phone as he walks out of the hardware store, shovel in hand. All this CCTV and witness testimony is so damning.

I gave him too much credit then
He really is dumb.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Thanks for all the updates guys.

I'm thinking he brought up the rough sex accident up on the date (wtf ..) to gauge a reaction from a "normal" person. Trying the story on for size so to speak. Thank god it set her radar off and she cut loose.