Glenn Weggery was the Crown's first witness called in the High Court at Wellington this morning.
He was also the first person to find the bodies of his sister Christine Lundy and 7-year-old niece Amber, and recalled finding a conservatory door ajar at the back of the family's Palmerston North home on August 30, 2000.
After calling out, Mr Weggery said he went through the house looking for them.
"I saw Amber lying face down at the far end of the hallway," he said.
Mr Weggery - who said he had a "very close" relationship with his sister - immediately called emergency services who told him to check Amber's pulse but not to touch anything.
"I hung up the phone and went down the hallway. Her head was cracked open at the back. Blood was everywhere. Brains . . ." he said.
"I saw Christine on the bed . . . I didn't go into the bedroom."
In cross examination, David Hislop, QC, highlighted the fact Mr Weggery had been interviewed by police in the days following the homicide.
The witness admitted he had sat through a three-hour grilling during which it was suggested to him he was the killer.
But he denied it then and maintained that position in court today.
"It was suggested it was the most natural thing in the world that instead of ringing 111, you would go to your niece and see if she was alive . . . to go to your niece to see if you could do anything to help her," Mr Hislop said. "There was no need to see her because you knew she was dead."
Mr Weggery responded: "They incorrectly suggested that."
He added that he did not want to "waste time" looking for Mrs Lundy "when Amber was on the floor covered in blood".
Lundy is accused of the double murder, which the Crown said he tried to make look like a random burglary.
The trial before Justice Simon France is expected to take up to nine weeks.
- Rob Kidd
