A family member of one of four men charged with the murder of an Elderslie dairy worker in September admitted in the Oamaru District Court yesterday tampering with evidence in order for him to avoid detection.
Wendy Geary (52), of Oamaru, had denied a charge of, knowing Ryan Geary-Smart had been party to an alleged murder, on September 11, tampering with evidence in order to enable him to avoid conviction.
Yesterday, Geary pleaded guilty to the amended charge of willfully attempting to pervert the course of justice - knowing Geary-Smart had been charged as a party to an alleged murder, on September 11 she tampered with evidence against him in order to enable him to avoid detection.
She was remanded to appear again on January 29 for a pre-sentence report and sentence. Both charges carry the same maximum penalty of up to seven years jail,Crown solicitor Andrew McRae told the court dairy worker Justin McFarlane died after being kicked, punched, stamped on and hit with three different weapons at Elderslie early on September 11.
During inquiries, police were seeking Geary-Smart, visiting his home and that of his girlfriend.
About 4pm on September 15, Geary-Smart arrived at Geary's address in Arun St. Before he was arrested, he discarded his cellphone, which Geary picked up. When police asked for it, she hid it and removed the SIM card, but eventually handed the cellphone over to police.
Police searched the property and Geary took them to a bush where she had hidden the card.
Geary told police she did it out of loyalty to protect Geary-Smart's girlfriend, who had bail conditions not to contact him.
Two other people - Corbin George Taylor (17), of Oamaru, and Stephanie Rose Lawrence (26), a shop assistant of Oamaru - have both denied charges of assisting Geary-Smart to avoid arrest.
Along with Geary-Smart, Steven Kenneth Boskell (18), of Palmerston, Jacob Christopher Geary-Smart (22), and Robert James Cummings (22), all of Oamaru, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr McFarlane.
