The detached thumb of a glove was found just metres from the body of a partially decapitated Dunedin man, a court has heard.
Just hours before 27-year-old Gurjit Singh’s partly decapitated body was found outside the smashed window of his Liberton home on January 29 last year, Rajinder, 35 — who is charged with his murder — bought a pair of gloves from Bunnings Warehouse.
In the High Court at Dunedin yesterday, PHF Science’s Sally Coulson said the portion of glove from the crime scene potentially matched a pair of gloves bought by police (identical to those bought by the defendant) for comparison purposes.
The gloves Rajinder bought were never found by police, the court heard last week.
Dr Coulson found there was a black nylon lining beneath a rubber nitrile overlay, along with a distinctive missing V-shaped portion.
After conducting an internet search, she found the construction and design matched about 1% of the gloves she reviewed online.
Dr Coulson said that it provided ‘‘strong support’’ for the suggestion the evidence from the scene came from the same type of gloves bought by Rajinder.
Under cross-examination by Anne Stevens KC, the witness accepted there could be thousands of such gloves in circulation.
The defence also highlighted the forensic scientist’s finding of a ‘‘wave-like pattern’’ on the glove’s surface, which Dr Coulson said could have come from wear or stretching.
Her PHF Science colleague, Tim Power, analysed samples from inside the detached piece of glove.
After conducting a standard DNA test and a more sensitive equivalent he told the court the findings were insufficient for comparison purposes.
There was likely DNA from at least two people found on the exhibit, Mr Power said.
Jurors were also told of the circumstances around police’s seizure of a pair of Rajinder’s shoes, details of which are suppressed.
The footwear was also examined by Dr Coulson.
She found three fragments on the shoes which potentially matched the type of glass found in the smashed window at Mr Singh’s home.
However, she said 5% of buildings used such glass, so it provided only ‘‘moderate support’’ for the Crown’s case.
In photos viewed later by the jury, co-counsel Katy Barker pointed out broken glass in the rear of Rajinder’s Toyota work vehicle which she said he might have trodden on if he was retrieving something from the van.
The defendant had previously employed Mr Singh as a fibre-optic installation technician for Downer, before the latter started his own business.
Detective Constable Sheree Clark said she approached the company’s Green Island headquarters and reviewed CCTV footage from January 29 — the day after the victim’s death.
She told the court Rajinder was seen pulling into the yard of the Main South Rd premises at 9.56am that day and using an industrial bin.
Under cross-examination, Det Const Clark confirmed she had not assessed previous footage to ascertain how often the defendant used the bins.
EnviroWaste truck driver Simon Gibbons said he would have collected the rubbish — which usually consisted of lengths of pipe, timber and concrete — on January 30.
He told jurors he was more concerned about whether the refuse was properly compacted than what was inside the bins.
At the beginning of the case, the defence said the severity of the killing — at least 46 stab wounds — clearly implied murderous intent but stressed Rajinder had no reason to harbour such a grudge against Mr Singh.
The trial continues.
