The Star: May 04, 2023

The Star Thursday May 4 2023
4
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
‘I hope you know what you are doing’
• From page 1
A document giving authority
to sell another property the pair
owned at Ferry Rd, which had
been prepared by a local real
estate agency and was dated July
7, 1995, with a valuation of about
$21,000, had been signed by
Blackmoore.
When shown the document,
Anderson accepted it was her
signature and said that she had
told him she was “happy” with
the meeting with Hawken –
someone he had never met.
“She did not complain about
being forced into this, no,” Anderson
told the court.
But although Blackmoore was
“street smart”, he was worried
over her ability to understand
what she was signing – and that
she wasn’t given a copy.
Under questioning by
Hawken’s defence counsel Anne
Stevens KC, however, Anderson
accepted that Blackmoore had
asked that a copy went to her
lawyer.
Anderson said his new fiancé,
who he had started a relationship
with in January 1995, had wanted
to clear her debts, and the money
from the property’s sale would
help her start a new life.
His understanding was
Hawken, who had been making
mortgage payments because the
Blackmoores had been unable to,
ACCUSED: David Hawken and Rebecca Wright-Meldrum both deny murder and are
standing trial at the High Court at Christchurch. PHOTO: GEORGE HEARD/NZ HERALD
had wanted the Ferry Rd section
sold so he didn’t have to pour
more money into it.
The Crown allege from “early
on” Hawken had an eye on the
financial benefit of the two properties,
wanting to use them and
his own assets to secure loans
for future business ventures,
including a multimillion-dollar
property development at Moncks
Spur, Redcliffs, while also looking
to set up a telecommunications
business.
Andersons’ mother Mary, who
has since died, said she spoke
often with Blackmoore, recalled
popping around to visit her at
Vancouver Cres one afternoon
and saw Hawken and Blackmoore
sitting in the lounge.
Hawken had a briefcase open
and papers around him, she told
police.
“I wondered what the hell he
was doing there,” she said.
“I just got such a shock seeing
her there.”
A boarder told her Blackmoore
was signing papers to sell the
Ferry Rd section.
Two days later, Mary Anderson
warned her not to sign anything,
especially given that she couldn’t
read.
“I hope you know what you are
doing,” she told her.
A massive police investigation
– Operation Vancouver – was
launched after Blackmoore’s
murder.
Both Hawken and Wright-
Meldrum were interviewed at the
time but denied any involvement.
The case went unsolved for
more than two decades before
Powell was arrested in 2019 after
police offered a then-record
$100,000 reward.
Wright-Meldrum’s defence
counsel Stephanie Grieve KC
suggested to the jury earlier the
key issue for them was whether
Powell is “credible and reliable”
when he says Wright-Meldrum
was with him when he murdered
Blackmoore.
Anne Stevens KC, defence
counsel for Hawken, said he had
nothing to do with Blackmoore’s
murder and that he had “no wish
that she die”.
Hawken had no motive, no
money, and no power to order a
murder, his defence team say.
The four-week trial before
Justice Cameron Mander
continues.
– NZ Herald
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