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KAI SCHWOERER/Stuff
David Charles Benbow is accused of murdering his childhood pal Michael Craig McGrath in May 2017.
The scene where David Benbow is alleged to have shot his best mate Michael McGrath was searched for 10 days by police and included lifting pavers and draining a septic tank.
Benbow, 54, is on trial in the High Court in Christchurch for murdering his childhood friend McGrath, 49, on May 22, 2017.
It’s alleged he shot McGrath with his .22 rifle after inviting him to his house at Candys Ave, Halswell, to help shift railway sleepers. The weapon and McGrath’s body have never been found. McGrath and Benbow’s former partner Joanne Green had started a relationship, which Benbow found out about after his daughter saw Green and McGrath kissing.
Detective Sergeant Brad Greenstreet, who was in charge of the police search of Benbow’s house, , which started on May 31, 2017, said the search involved numerous people and specialties.
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The search included removing planks from the deck at the address and the septic tank was drained. Nothing of interest was found.
A recently grassed seeded area was examined with long probes with no items of interest discovered, he said. A manhole in a walk-in wardrobe in the master bedroom was searched, but no firearm was found.
MARTIN VAN BEYNEN/STUFF/Stuff
Detective Sergeant Brad Greenstreet was in charge of the police search of David Benbow’s property.
Only one visible blood spot was found at the property and that was a speck on a speaker.
In other evidence on Thursday, a union representative for Benbow was puzzled after Benbow told him that if Michael McGrath’s body was found any DNA on it would have degraded.
In a statement read to the court, William Kavanaugh, now deceased, said he had advocated for Benbow in employment discussions between the Department of Corrections and Benbow after he became a person of interest in the McGrath homicide inquiry.
SUPPLIED
Michael Craig McGrath went missing about Monday, May 22, 2017.
After a meeting with department officials in October 2017, options for Benbow’s exit or continued employment were discussed. Dismissal was raised as an option by Corrections. Benbow wanted the department to email him vacancies of jobs he could do if he remained with Corrections.
During a debrief with Benbow after the meeting, Benbow told him he could not be sacked for being a person of interest and could be a person on interest until he was retired, Kavanaugh said.
“I said [referring to his case] unless they find a body and DNA is on it… [Benbow said] ‘there won’t be any DNA it will be degraded’. I wasn’t sure how to take the comment he had made about the DNA being degraded. It was difficult for me to tell if it was a throwaway comment or if there was more to it.”
STUFF
David Benbow has been charged with the murder of Christchurch builder Michael McGrath in 2017. (Video first published in September 2019)
A firearms examiner for ESR, Gerhard Weavers, told the court a shot from a .22 rifle using subsonic ammunition would be unlikely to create blood splatter because of the low energy of bullet hitting the blood source. However, it couldn’t be ruled out.
Of seven cases of single shots to the head with a .22 he had dealt with in the last 10 years, none showed exits wounds.
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