14 Oct 2010

Wife had talked of leaving, murder trial told

4:16 pm on 14 October 2010

A court has heard that the wife of a Matamata man had talked of leaving him, a year before he shot her at close range.

Gregory Meads, 55, is on trial in the High Court at Hamilton for the murder of Helen Meads in September last year.

Mr Meads has told the High Court he never contemplated that his wife would ever leave him.

Cross-examining Mr Meads on Thursday, the Crown produced a diary entry written by Mr Meads in 2008 about a family meeting, during which the option of Mrs Meads renting a house was discussed.

Mr Meads admitted that it was talked about but that she never left him.

The Crown's case is that Mr Meads deliberately shot his 42-year-old wife Helen four days after she told him their marriage was over.

The defence has maintained the couple had a loving relationship.

The Crown has also painted Mr Meads as suspicious of his wife's activities and constant text messages, saying he detailed her every movement in a diary.

Earlier, the court was told that the accused had been shocked by texts sent by his wife to friends - because they were at odds to what she was telling him.

The court was told the messages talked of cleaning Mr Meads out and leaving him only with a pile of clothes, and that it would take time but he was "going down".

The Crown alleges Mr Meads deliberately murdered his wife, but the defence says it was not intentional and was manslaughter.

On Wednesday, Mr Meads told the jury he did not intend to kill his wife when he confronted her in the stables while carrying a loaded shotgun.