Julia DeLuney Found Guilty of Murdering Her Mother Helen Gregory in Khandallah
Julia DeLuney Found Guilty of Murdering Her Mother Helen Gregory in Khandallah
Julia DeLuney, 53, has been found guilty of murdering her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory, in a tragic case that has gripped the Wellington community. The verdict was delivered after a month-long trial in the High Court, where a jury concluded that DeLuney had staged the scene to make it appear as though her mother had died in a fall from an attic ladder.
The prosecution argued that DeLuney’s actions were driven by a motive tied to her financial habits. Forensic accounting revealed that she had been spending over $150,000 on cryptocurrency, which she could not afford without an unexplained $75,000 cash injection in the year leading up to her mother’s death. Prosecutors suggested that this financial strain may have led to a confrontation, during which DeLuney allegedly struck her mother with a heavy object—likely a vase—and then smeared her mother’s blood across the walls and utility cupboard to stage the scene.
DeLuney initially told police that her mother had fallen from the attic, suffering only a minor injury. However, forensic experts testified that the blood patterns at the scene were inconsistent with a fall and could only have been placed there after the fact. This evidence supported the Crown’s claim that DeLuney had staged the scene to cover up the murder.
Another key piece of evidence was CCTV footage showing DeLuney leaving her mother’s home with what appeared to be a yellow council rubbish bag in her car. Prosecutors suggested that she used this bag to conceal her blood-stained clothes and the murder weapon, which she later disposed of in a skip bin near her studio apartment. Despite a police search, no evidence was found in the landfill.
DeLuney’s defense argued that an unknown intruder had broken into the home and killed her mother while she was out of the house. However, the prosecution dismissed this theory, pointing to the lack of evidence supporting the presence of another person at the scene.
After 11.5 hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict. DeLuney remained calm as the verdict was read, though her expression betrayed tension as she glanced at her mother’s loved ones in the public gallery before being led away in handcuffs.
The case has sparked a broader conversation about the pressures of financial dependencies and the potential for familial relationships to be strained under such circumstances. While the trial has concluded, the community will continue to reflect on the tragic events that led to this verdict.
