Otautau wife Sandy Graham found guilty of murdering Dale Watene

A Southland woman has been found guilty of the murder of her partner, Otautau man Dale Watene.

Sandy Maree Graham, 32, was charged with the murder of Dale Tama Watene, 40, in Otautau on April 16, 2020.

George Ivor Hyde, 25, was charged with complicity in the murder of Watene between April 16, 2020 and April 27, 2020. He was found not guilty of complicity in murder, but found guilty of complicity after the act of manslaughter.

The verdict was handed down Thursday after a nearly four-week trial at the Supreme Court in Invercargill.

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The jury was chaired by Justice Gerald Nation and the decision was unanimous. A juror was fired on health grounds on Tuesday.

The couple is expected to be sentenced on November 8.

Watene’s mother, Christine, declined to comment Thursday, except to say she was grateful for the work police had done to get justice for her and her family.

The defense accepted that Watene died at Graham’s house, but focused on a struggle in the hallway of the house between the couple before a gun went off.

Watene’s body was found in the Longwood Forest on May 18, 2020.

Graham chose to testify, saying she didn’t know if she pulled the trigger or not.

Graham’s attorney Sarah Saunderson-Warner said in her opening statement last month that what happened in that hallway was a terrible accident with tragic consequences.

The issue wasn’t whether Graham was involved, but rather how Watene died, what happened in those minutes and seconds before that firearm was unloaded into the hallway, and why, she said.

In his opening statement, Crown Prosecutor Riki Donnelly claimed that Watene had been shot through the mouth by Graham with a .22 semi-automatic Ruger rifle.

Fiona Guy Kidd, Hyde’s lawyer, claimed her client believed Watene had committed suicide, and he then helped Graham because he believed she would lose her children because she had the unlicensed firearm.

Guy Kidd asked several detectives about his character and whether he understood when his rights were read to him, and portrayed him as a person who was socially challenged.

At trial, Crown forensic firearms expert Angus Newton said the barrel of the gun was unlikely to be less than 3 feet from Watene when it was fired, as there was no muzzle residue on his face or mouth.

According to Newton, the shot came from no closer than 0.8 m. This was based on the number of particles embedded in a piece of white cotton cloth that Newton fired at.

Graham told the jury in her evidence that an argument had broken out between her and Watene on April 16, 2020 after she told him she had been sleeping with someone else, and he saw an explicit photo taken of her by another man. sent.

Watene punched her in the chest and turned her on, she said.

Graham went out and sent a message to the local police officer, she said. Watene followed her, saw the message and accused her of sleeping with the officer, Graham said.

Graham then got into Watene’s Isuzu Mu and left it in a park about 500 meters away (where police later found it), returned to the house and heard her children screaming and Watene cursing, she said.

Graham went and grabbed the gun from behind her bedroom mirror to push Watene out of the house, she said.

The magazine wasn’t attached, she said, meaning she thought it wasn’t loaded.

Watene put the gun in his mouth, she said, and pushed him back out a door. “We just struggled with the gun and just pulled it back and forth.”

When she closed the door so her kids wouldn’t hear the argument, “the gun went off,” Graham said.