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KAI SCHWOERER/Stuff
David Charles Benbow outside the High Court in Christchurch in April 2023. Benbow has been charged with the murder of Michael McGrath and has pleaded not guilty.
The retrial of David Charles Benbow, a former Corrections officer accused of murdering his childhood friend Michael McGrath, will commence in the High Court in Christchurch on Monday.
Benbow is accused of allegedly killing McGrath in May 2017 after he started a relationship with Benbow’s former partner.
McGrath’s body and the gun police allege was used to kill him have never been found.
Benbow’s first trial, which took place over seven weeks earlier this year, ended in a hung jury after the seven men and five women of the jury could not reach a verdict.
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McGrath went missing in May 2017. He has never been found.
The jury heard from more than 100 witnesses over the course of the first trial and deliberated for four days before declaring it could not reach a unanimous or majority verdict.
Benbow was then remanded on electronically monitored bail while he awaited a new trial.
The retrial has been set down for eight weeks.
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