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Gail Money.
photo: Jason Doherty/Stuff.
A woman’s 27-year battle to prove her innocence will enter a crucial phase in the Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
Gail Money He was convicted twice for the murder of Deane Fuller-Sandys in 1989, first at a 1999 trial and again at a 2000 retrial.
She has been in prison for 15 years and is currently on life parole. Her story was told in a 2018 RNZ/Stuff podcast Go fishing.
Money and his accomplice Stephen Stone – also convicted of murder in 1999 – are seeking full acquittal.
this Crown admitted last month The 1999 trial, and a retrial of Mani the following year, both failed because prosecutors failed to disclose two key documents to defense lawyers.
However, even if the court reverses the conviction, prosecutors seek a retrial, not an acquittal.
It is said that there is still a chance to conduct a new investigation into the case and the police are currently planning to conduct new DNA tests on samples collected in 1998.
Mani has always maintained his innocence.
Fuller-Sandys, who was a young mother from west Auckland at the time of her disappearance, said she had never even met the alleged victim.
Her former accomplice, Stone, was also convicted of Fuller-Sandys’ murder and the murder and rape of Leah Stevens in 1999. He is currently serving a life sentence.
In addition to Money and Stone, there are two other appellants: Colin Money, Gail Money’s brother, and Mark Henriksen, who were both convicted of complicity in the Fuller-Sandys murders.
They received relatively light sentences, and prosecutors did not seek a retrial.
However, in the cases of Money and Stone, prosecutors and appellant counsel vigorously debated the arguments for retrial versus acquittal during pretrial briefs.
When Fuller-Sandys disappeared in 1989, it was initially assumed he fell off the rocks while fishing off the Watipu Coast and his body has never been found.
Lawyers for Money and Stone argued that Dean Fuller-Sandys was likely not murdered at all.
They said the prosecutor’s version of events, in which Money demanded Fuller-Sandys’ death and Stone then shot her execution-style with a pistol in front of numerous witnesses at 22 Lanoke Road in Henderson, never happened.
They argue that the testimony of four key witnesses, all of whom have been granted immunity from prosecution, was simply unreliable, citing factors including police coercion and training to ensure that all four witnesses’ statements matched, and the compulsive tendency of at least two of them to lie.
Stone’s attorneys also argued that he was not guilty of the rape and murder of Leah Stephens, convictions in both cases that relied heavily on the testimony of two equally unreliable witnesses.
In its filing, prosecutors acknowledged some of the arguments raised by the appellant, including non-disclosure and police failure, but argued that despite a litany of lies told by four key witnesses, their evidence was still admissible.
Prosecutors also pointed out that many other independent witnesses provided evidence to support their claims.
The new DNA tests police plan to carry out are “samples taken by the ESR when it inspected the garage and bedrooms at 22 Lanok Road in 1998”.
Investigator Tim McKinnel, a key figure in exonerating Money and Stone, said prosecutors had “five years to move forward with whatever DNA testing they wanted.”
“So it was a surprise to have this news put before the judge on the eve of the appeal.”
McKinnell said Money was nervous as the hearing approached.
“She, Stephen, Mark and Colin have been waiting for a long time and they just want to go to the hearing and see what the outcome is.”
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