Murder-accused tells counsellor he wanted to destroy McGrath

“I would like to annihilate him” murder-accused David Benbow told a counsellor 20 days before his alleged victim Michael McGrath went missing.

David Charles 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 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.

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A Christchurch counsellor whose name is suppressed said Benbow had come to see her on May 2, 2017 after a reference from the Employment Assistance Service.

He seemed lost, lonely and depressed. His main concerns were the separation from Green and his children and he wasn’t happy at his work.

Towards the end of the session he had mentioned suspicions his ex-partner was seeing McGrath and said he “would like to annihilate him”.

The comment did not ring alarm bells and was “just one of those comments.”

She had a further five sessions with Benbow and only in the last session on May 26, 2017, did he mention McGrath again.

The first thing Benbow mentioned at the session was McGrath had gone missing, and he may have been one of the last people to see him. That was traumatic for him, but she couldn’t remember why, she said.

On June 1 she became aware that Benbow had become a person of interest in the McGrath inquiry and felt a “bit shocked”. She had then looked through her notes of the sessions.

She then talked to her mentor and the manager of the service that contracted her.

The trial continues.