Blessie trial: Man found guilty of murder

The man was found guilty of rape and murder charges today. Photo NZ Herald.
The man was found guilty of rape and murder charges today. Photo NZ Herald.
A jury has found the man accused of murdering and raping Auckland woman Blessie Gotingco guilty on both counts.

After just under two hours of deliberation today, they returned the unanimous verdicts in front of a packed public gallery in the High Court at Auckland.

The 56-year-old North Shore mother of three was walking home to her North Shore suburb on May 24, 2014 when the Crown says she was deliberately run down by the defendant driving a silver BMW.

He bundled her into the back of the car and drove swiftly to his Birkdale apartment just before his 8pm Corrections-imposed curfew.

While inside his garage, he raped Mrs Gotingco and subjected her to a frenzied knife attack.

The defendant told the jury as much from the witness box earlier this week when he opted to give evidence. 

But he said he thought Mrs Gotingco was already dead and explained his actions as trying to make the death look like a "random attack" while he was high on methamphetamine.

The jury rejected that version of events and believed he had the requisite murderous intent to prove the charge.

The court continued suppression of the defendant's name today, but has allowed photos of him to be used.   

Pathologist Dr Carl Wigren detailed the deep wounds, one of which was so violent links of the victim's necklace were found embedded in its depths.

He told the jury Mrs Gotingco's throat was slashed, severing her windpipe and she would have died in minutes.

But he was certain she was alive when the injuries were inflicted because he found blood in her lungs.

On May 26, Mrs Gotingco's body was found in Eskdale Cemetery - a location his GPS anklet showed he had visited in the hours leading up to the murder.

"This was not you looking for drugs, this was for you already looking for possible locations to dump the body of the person you were going to rape," Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery said.

A search of the defendant's property the next day turned up various bloody items as well as pools of blood in his car.

A knife, as well as items belonging to Mrs Gotingco, were found buried in the back of his property; enough to persuade the jury he intended to kill.

The defendant's explanation of contamination and "police malpractice" when it came to his semen found inside the victim also did not wash with the seven men and five women.

Having now been convicted of murder, he will serve a term of life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of at least 10 years. 

After Justice Brewer entered convictions on both charges, Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery indicated they would be seeking a term of preventive detention on the rape charge.

Defence lawyer Chris Wilkinson-Smith opposed the lifting of name suppression on the grounds that his client would be taking the case to the Court of Appeal.

Gruelling month for family 

Blessie Gotingco's family emerged from the gruelling four-week trial arm in arm outside the court this afternoon.

Support person Ruth Money read a statement on their behalf while the family gathered around her, Mrs Gotingco's son John carrying a framed photo of his mother.

"The Gotingco family is extremely relieved this thing is over and the jury rightly found this offender guilty of these heinous crimes," Ms Money said.

"The evidence was incredibly stressful as was the conduct of the offender."

With the anniversary of Mrs Gotingco's death only days away, the family asked to be left to mourn.

"We wish to remember her for who she was rather than the evil that happenedl. Her smile would light up your heart and will continue to do so."

Detective Senior Sergeant Stan Brown said the polices "feelings, thoughts and support" were with the family and he looked ahead to the defendant's appeal that had been signaled in court.

"Obviously this is just part of the judicial process and we have some steps to go."

Defendant removed from court  

As Justice Brewer recounted the arguments of both sides of the case at the High Court this morning, the defendant  jumped up abruptly and barged his way back to the holding cells.

Security officers rushed to follow him and a scuffle could be heard out the back of the court, featuring several expletives. Justice Brewer told security to keep him in the cells while he finished addressing the jury.

The judge was quick to point out to jurors that the Crown did not have to prove that the killing was premeditated.

If they found the defendant hit her with his car by accident that did not mean he was not guilty, jurors just had to review what he did next, he said.

Justice Brewer said he wanted unanimous verdicts and the jury had to be sure of the defendant's guilt if they were to convict him.