The jury trial of two people accused of killing 21-year-old Angela Blackmoore nearly three decades ago has begun in the High Court in Christchurch today.
The alleged cold case murder took place 28 years ago on August 17, 1995.
Blackmoore was 10 weeks pregnant when she was brutally stabbed 39 times in the kitchen of her home.
Her two-year-old son slept through the violent attack.
Rebecca Wright-Meldrum, 51, and 50-year-old David Hawken are jointly charged with her murder in a case that’s been investigated by police for almost three decades, under the name Operation Vancouver.
They are both on bail throughout the trial and deny involvement in her death.
Justice Cameron Mander told the jury of eight men and four women the pair, along with a third person, are accused of murdering the young woman in her home.
In 2020 Jeremy Powell was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in jail after pleading guilty to Blackmoore's murder.
He cautioned the jury about doing their own research on the case.
“It is a case of some vintage …and it has been in the media recently, when another person who is a witness in the trial pleaded guilty.”
He told the jury the pair are each individually charged, but for reasons of convenience are being tried at the same time.
The Crown will present evidence from 55 witnesses, and will open its case tomorrow morning .
The trial is expected to run for four weeks.
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