A Wellington woman who killed her mother at her home in January last year has been sentenced at the High Court in Wellington today.
Julia DeLuney, 53, was found guilty of the murder of her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory by a jury in July.
This afternoon, she was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 18 years non-parole.
Seventy-nine-year-old Helen Gregory was found dead in her Wellington home with blood smeared on hallway walls and splattered around the bedroom. (Source: 1News)
Gregory was found dead at her Khandallah home on January 24, 2024.
As reported by RNZ, the Crown argued she attacked her mother with a heavy object, possibly motivated by financial incentives or following a confrontation over stolen cash, and staged the scene to look like a fall from the attic.
The defence argued someone else killed her, claiming Gregory fell from the attic, and while DeLuney left her in a bedroom to drive back to her Kāpiti home to collect her husband Antonio DeLuney to help — as her mother didn't like hospitals — a third person caused those fatal injuries.
Throughout the trial, the court saw photographs of the crime scene, including blood smeared on the walls of the hallway and splattered around the bedroom where Gregory was found.
Julia DeLuney jailed after 'violent' and 'frenzied' killing of 79 year old mother. Watch on TVNZ+
The court also heard from first responders on when they first suspected it had not been an accident, and forensic experts on whether the scene was staged.
It heard about DeLuney's emotional struggle and dealings in cryptocurrency, her clothing changes caught on CCTV that evening and the disposal of a mystery bin bag into a passing rubbish truck the following morning.
The trial at the High Court in Wellington lasted four and a half weeks, and the jury took just over a day to reach its verdict.
By Demelza Leslie, 1News Reporter
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