Three men accused of murdering Lois Tolley have had their charges withdrawn five years after she was killed in her Upper Hutt home.
"The Crown accepts it has insufficient evidence to sustain a guilty verdict," Justice Simon France said in a judgement recently released publicly.
The trial of the three men, who have interim name suppression, was set to begin next week in the High Court in Wellington.
Tolley, 30, was alone on December 9, 2016, when four men entered her home looking for drugs and money, police said.
She was cut and shot at close range, with police referring to her death as an "execution-style" killing.
Two men were charged separately in 2019 and another in mid-2020.
The trio faced charges of murder, aggravated burglary and assault with intent to rob.
The judgement states over the month of December 2021, Justice France approved separate requests from the Crown prosecution for the charges to be withdrawn.
"In the last three months the Crown case has gradually unravelled," he said.
In September 2021, a judgement was issued excluding admissions made to police by one of the defendants, which had formed the majority of the case against him.
The case against another of the accused largely came down to communications allegedly made to prisoners.
In mid-2021, the Solicitor-General published new rules on when the prosecution can use this type of evidence, prompting the Crown to re-evaluate that it could not call on these witnesses.
The key witness in the case against the third defendant was also pulled after the Crown received information she had been charged twice with perverting the course of justice, which means taking actions to intervene with fair court proceedings.
The judge said he ruled the Crown could withdraw the charges, instead of having the charges dismissed as the defendants sought, for a range of reasons including the severity of the charges and the fact that the police investigation is ongoing with other offenders yet to be identified or charged.
"Two years in prison is not to be minimised, but I am not persuaded there would be a corresponding level of unfairness because of that in allowing the Crown to withdraw, such that the application for a dismissal should be favoured," Justice France said.
Police were unable to comment due to suppression still being in place, a police spokesperson told 1News.
"Police remain in regular contact with Lois’ family."
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