The police officer who helped recover the body of Mellory Manning has described seeing a large wound to her forehead.
Mauha Huatahi Fawcett on trial for murdering Mellory Manning, in the Christchurch High Court. Photo: FAIRFAX / Pool
The Crown said Ms Manning, a prostitute, was picked up off a central city street in Christchurch in December 2008 and taken to a Mongrel Mob pad where she was raped, beaten, stabbed and strangled before her body was dumped in the Avon River.
It said the man accused of her murder, gang prospect Mauha Fawcett, abducted her and was among those involved in the killing.
In evidence in the Christchurch High Court on Thursday, police officer Logan Penrose said when he saw the body in the river, the first thing he noticed was a large hole in the forehead and stab wounds in a shoulder.
He said a silver folding knife was found on the river bed below her body.
