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Crown alleges woman killed mother after buying ballet tickets

Otago Daily Times

13 hours ago

Otago Daily Times

Crown alleges woman killed mother after buying ballet tickets

By Kate Green of RNZ A Crown prosecutor has told a court Wellington woman Julia DeLuney violently attacked her mother, leaving her dead or dying, in January last year. A post-mortem found Khandallah resident Helen Gregory, aged 79, died from complications of blunt force trauma, with 12 lacerations to her head and three skull fractures. Her daughter DeLuney is charged with murder, to which she has pleaded not guilty, with her trial opening Monday morning in the High Court in Wellington. Crown prosecutor Nicole Jamieson told the court that on the evening of 24 January, DeLuney visited her mother to book tickets to the ballet. But sometime between 8.16pm - when DeLuney's email address received confirmation of the ticket purchase - and 9.45pm when she left the address, the Crown said she violently attacked her mother and then staged the scene to make it look like she had suffered a fall. But DeLuney's defence lawyers said the police investigation had suffered from tunnel vision, and failed to consider that someone else killed Gregory. The Crown's case Jamieson laid out the case for the jurors. Allegedly, DeLuney organised a visit with her mother via email, with the purpose of booking tickets to the ballet. She arrived a little after 6pm. Jamieson said phone records showed DeLuney messaged her husband on Facebook around 7.20pm, to say they were looking through her mother's clothes, and sent a photo of them together in the wardrobe. DeLuney's email account received a Ticketmaster confirmation of purchase for tickets to the ballet, and then at 8.16pm, DeLuney messaged her husband to say they were having dinner. She left at 9.45pm. It is in this window that the Crown alleged DeLuney attacked her mother, leaving her fatally injured. She said it was the Crown's understanding that DeLuney was experiencing financial difficulty, involved in trading cryptocurrency, and had recently received $15,000 from her mother to invest, which the Crown said it appeared she used instead to pay off her own debt. Jamieson said later evidence would show the possibility that Gregory was attacked using a vase which normally stood on the bedside table. DeLuney then drove home, stopped at a Mobil station, and then picked up her husband before returning to the Baroda St address. Her husband began performing CPR and an ambulance was called, but first responders were not successful, and Gregory was pronounced dead at 11.45pm. Jamieson said the case would be "an issue of identity". "Who killed Ms Gregory? And that is because Ms DeLuney denies it was her." She said in DeLuney's version of events, her mother went to put toilet roll in the attic and fell. At that stage, her injuries were not "significant". DeLuney put her in a bedroom and left her to go and pick up her husband to help, and when they returned, they found blood and significant injuries. According to Jamieson: "The Crown says that what Ms DeLuney told the police is not the truth." The case in defence Defence lawyer Quentin Duff told the jury the police investigation had failed to consider that someone else might have killed Gregory. He said from the very beginning, the "rot of tunnel vision" had excluded DeLuney's "honest, if not perfect explanation" of the evening, and the case had "developed a contagious case of tunnel vision", which excluded the most obvious explanation - that someone else had killed her. He said later evidence would show Gregory's phone ascending one floor into the attic at 9.30pm. He asserted that between 9.30pm and 10pm, a neighbour told police someone had knocked on their door, and when they went to investigate, nobody was there, introducing the possibility of a third person to the evening. The Crown began calling witnesses on Monday afternoon. The trial is expected to go for up to five weeks, and there are set to be more than 80 witnesses called in total.

Nurse cons cash from colleagues, jets off to Taylor Swift

Otago Daily Times

3 days ago

Otago Daily Times

Nurse cons cash from colleagues, jets off to Taylor Swift

- By Belinda Feek, Open Justice multimedia journalist A nurse who took more than $100,000 from three sympathetic colleagues after claiming her mother had died and her dad was sick spent the money on gambling and trips overseas. She even attended a Taylor Swift concert in Sydney and a Yankees game and Justin Timberlake concert in New York. Angelina Nicole Therese Avisado Reyes, a nurse at Waikato District Health Board at the time, was so persistent with one victim that he ended up transferring $107,000 to her over six months. That victim cashed in investments, withdrew savings and handed over part of his inheritance from a dead grandparent, after Reyes claimed she had tried to commit suicide because she was so stressed. Reyes, who no longer works at the DHB, eventually confessed and told him she'd lost $18,000 of his money gambling. The 33-year-old appeared in the Hamilton District Court recently, where she pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining by deception, one of which was representative, after taking $112,000 from her colleagues. Her counsel, Raewyn Sporle, asked Judge Noel Cocurullo not to enter convictions as she would be applying for a Section 106 discharge without conviction at her sentencing in October. 'Can't afford a burial plot' for purportedly dead mother Reyes, who is now on bail, unsuccessfully challenged a media request for a copy of court documents detailing her offending. A judge granted NZME permission to have them. According to those documents, the first victim was made aware by her manager in early December 2023 that Reyes' mother in the Philippines was sick and in hospital. In March 2024, she was told Reyes' mother had died. When she later saw Reyes and noticed she was crying they spoke. Later that morning, the victim got a message from Reyes saying her mother had died, she had no money, and couldn't afford a burial plot in the Philippines for her. After speaking to her husband, the victim agreed to transfer $2000 to Reyes. Around the end of the month, the second victim saw Reyes and noticed she seemed distracted, was always on her phone, and asked if she was all right. Reyes said her mother in the Philippines was sick. Over the next couple of weeks, Reyes said her mother had a heart attack, was hospitalised, then discharged, then later readmitted, and then died. Another time, she said her father had been hospitalised with a 'brain problem' and that it was 'very serious'. On April 11, the victim got a Facebook message from Reyes saying she was back home, her father was in hospital, and asking if she could borrow some money and that she would pay her back on payday. When asked how much she needed, Reyes said $3000. 'Tell your parents you've been scammed' In January 2024, Reyes told the third victim her mother was in hospital and needed $10,000 for the cost of heart surgery. She contacted him a week later saying her mother had a heart attack and she needed the money 'immediately', but it was now going to cost $90,000 for the surgery and hospital expenses. She asked for $35,000. At the time, the victim didn't have the money directly, so he cashed in some investments and withdrew some savings totalling $36,000. Reyes promised to pay him back by the end of the year. On February 11, she advised her boss that her mother had died during surgery and told several other colleagues over the following days. Immigration records revealed Reyes flew to Sydney overnight on February 23 to attend a Taylor Swift concert. During this time, she'd also falsely claimed two weeks of bereavement leave. On March 9, Reyes contacted the victim again, saying she needed $1000 that day to pay the funeral director to have her mother's body released, but said she needed it in e-vouchers, due to sending it to the Philippines. She was back in touch again on May 6, saying her father now needed surgery and required $6000. The victim was only able to transfer $1000. The victim inherited more than $60,000 from a deceased grandparent on May 10, and told Reyes he could loan her more money if required. She asked for $40,000, which they agreed to transfer. Three days later, Reyes asked for another $10,000 to travel home to see her sick father. In July, she contacted the victim again, saying she was in the Philippines and had been hospitalised after trying to commit suicide and had incurred a debt of $30,000. The victim didn't have that much and instead transferred her $600 and gave her a $400 pay safe card. He then cashed up more investments as he wanted to help her and put $18,000 in her account. However, Immigration records showed she was in New York between June 16 and July 14 last year, and attended a Yankees baseball game and a Justin Timberlake concert. On July 23, she called the victim and told him she owed lawyers $100,000 and if she didn't pay it, her father would go to jail. She also claimed to be suicidal again. The victim said he didn't have any money, but Reyes told him to tell his parents he had been scammed out of the money. However, he declined to do that. The next day, she video-called the victim and said she had flights booked back to New Zealand but couldn't leave the country until she paid the $100,000. She later told him she had lied about owing the $100,000, and had lost $18,000 gambling. 'Mum and Dad are alive and well' Reyes siphoned $107,200 from that victim alone due to the stories she had told him. When questioned by police, Reyes said she had a 'big gambling problem'. She also admitted lying about her mother's death, that her father was sick, and that she had attempted suicide so the victim would give her money. Reyes also confirmed that her mother and father were 'alive and well' in the Philippines.

Nurse conned $112k from colleagues for gigs, gambling

Otago Daily Times

3 days ago

Otago Daily Times

Nurse conned $112k from colleagues for gigs, gambling

- By Belinda Feek, Open Justice multimedia journalist A nurse who took more than $100,000 from three sympathetic colleagues after claiming her mother had died and her dad was sick spent the money on gambling and trips overseas. She even attended a Taylor Swift concert in Sydney and a Yankees game and Justin Timberlake concert in New York. Angelina Nicole Therese Avisado Reyes, a nurse at Waikato District Health Board at the time, was so persistent with one victim that he ended up transferring $107,000 to her over six months. That victim cashed in investments, withdrew savings and handed over part of his inheritance from a dead grandparent, after Reyes claimed she had tried to commit suicide because she was so stressed. Reyes, who no longer works at the DHB, eventually confessed and told him she'd lost $18,000 of his money gambling. The 33-year-old appeared in the Hamilton District Court recently, where she pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining by deception, one of which was representative, after taking $112,000 from her colleagues. Her counsel, Raewyn Sporle, asked Judge Noel Cocurullo not to enter convictions as she would be applying for a Section 106 discharge without conviction at her sentencing in October. 'Can't afford a burial plot' for purportedly dead mother Reyes, who is now on bail, unsuccessfully challenged a media request for a copy of court documents detailing her offending. A judge granted NZME permission to have them. According to those documents, the first victim was made aware by her manager in early December 2023 that Reyes' mother in the Philippines was sick and in hospital. In March 2024, she was told Reyes' mother had died. When she later saw Reyes and noticed she was crying they spoke. Later that morning, the victim got a message from Reyes saying her mother had died, she had no money, and couldn't afford a burial plot in the Philippines for her. After speaking to her husband, the victim agreed to transfer $2000 to Reyes. Around the end of the month, the second victim saw Reyes and noticed she seemed distracted, was always on her phone, and asked if she was all right. Reyes said her mother in the Philippines was sick. Over the next couple of weeks, Reyes said her mother had a heart attack, was hospitalised, then discharged, then later readmitted, and then died. Another time, she said her father had been hospitalised with a 'brain problem' and that it was 'very serious'. On April 11, the victim got a Facebook message from Reyes saying she was back home, her father was in hospital, and asking if she could borrow some money and that she would pay her back on payday. When asked how much she needed, Reyes said $3000. 'Tell your parents you've been scammed' In January 2024, Reyes told the third victim her mother was in hospital and needed $10,000 for the cost of heart surgery. She contacted him a week later saying her mother had a heart attack and she needed the money 'immediately', but it was now going to cost $90,000 for the surgery and hospital expenses. She asked for $35,000. At the time, the victim didn't have the money directly, so he cashed in some investments and withdrew some savings totalling $36,000. Reyes promised to pay him back by the end of the year. On February 11, she advised her boss that her mother had died during surgery and told several other colleagues over the following days. Immigration records revealed Reyes flew to Sydney overnight on February 23 to attend a Taylor Swift concert. During this time, she'd also falsely claimed two weeks of bereavement leave. On March 9, Reyes contacted the victim again, saying she needed $1000 that day to pay the funeral director to have her mother's body released, but said she needed it in e-vouchers, due to sending it to the Philippines. She was back in touch again on May 6, saying her father now needed surgery and required $6000. The victim was only able to transfer $1000. The victim inherited more than $60,000 from a deceased grandparent on May 10, and told Reyes he could loan her more money if required. She asked for $40,000, which they agreed to transfer. Three days later, Reyes asked for another $10,000 to travel home to see her sick father. In July, she contacted the victim again, saying she was in the Philippines and had been hospitalised after trying to commit suicide and had incurred a debt of $30,000. The victim didn't have that much and instead transferred her $600 and gave her a $400 pay safe card. He then cashed up more investments as he wanted to help her and put $18,000 in her account. However, Immigration records showed she was in New York between June 16 and July 14 last year, and attended a Yankees baseball game and a Justin Timberlake concert. On July 23, she called the victim and told him she owed lawyers $100,000 and if she didn't pay it, her father would go to jail. She also claimed to be suicidal again. The victim said he didn't have any money, but Reyes told him to tell his parents he had been scammed out of the money. However, he declined to do that. The next day, she video-called the victim and said she had flights booked back to New Zealand but couldn't leave the country until she paid the $100,000. She later told him she had lied about owing the $100,000, and had lost $18,000 gambling. 'Mum and Dad are alive and well' Reyes siphoned $107,200 from that victim alone due to the stories she had told him. When questioned by police, Reyes said she had a 'big gambling problem'. She also admitted lying about her mother's death, that her father was sick, and that she had attempted suicide so the victim would give her money. Reyes also confirmed that her mother and father were 'alive and well' in the Philippines.

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Crown alleges woman killed mother after buying ballet tickets

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Well-known Christchurch man dies in crash

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Crown alleges woman killed mother after buying ballet tickets

Nurse cons cash from colleagues, jets off to Taylor Swift

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