A woman who killed her mother at her Khandallah home in January last year will be sentenced at the High Court in Wellington on Friday.<\/p>\n
Julia DeLuney was found guilty<\/a>\u00a0of the murder of her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory by a jury in July.<\/p>\n Gregory was found dead on 24 January, 2024.<\/p>\n The Crown argued DeLuney attacked her mother with a heavy object, possibly motivated by money or following a confrontation over stolen cash, and\u00a0staged the scene<\/a>\u00a0to look like a fall from the attic.<\/p>\n The defence argued someone else killed her, saying there was\u00a0no sign of a breakdown in their relationship<\/a>\u00a0that would explain a murder – but the jury did not agree.<\/p>\n Throughout the trial, the court saw photographs of the crime scene, including [https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/565878\/khandallah-murder-trial-blood-wiped-onto-walls-to-stage-scene-scientist<\/p>\n blood smeared on the walls] of the hallway and splattered around the bedroom where Gregory was found, and heard from first responders on when they first\u00a0suspected it had not been an accident<\/a>, and forensic experts on whether the scene was staged.<\/p>\n It heard about DeLuney’s emotional struggle and dealings in cryptocurrency, her\u00a0clothing changes caught on CCTV<\/a>\u00a0that evening and the\u00a0disposal of a mystery bin bag<\/a>\u00a0into a passing rubbish truck the following morning.<\/p>\n