While other high-profile killers in New Zealand had well-resourced champions to help quash their convictions, Scott Watson had his mum and dad. Two young people disappeared following a New Year's Eve party at an isolated vacation lodge called Furneaux Lodge. The Marlborough Sounds Murders. Chris Watson has kept Blade, even though people associate it with the murders. "Beautiful night. Consistent with a scrubbing brush, says Chris. It's one of the most murky and murderous murders in New Zealand: in the early hours of New Year's Day 20 years ago in 1998, Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, 17, got on board a yacht and they disappeared following a New Year's Eve Party at Furneaux Lodge in Marlborough Sounds. Water taxi driver Guy Wallace is shown the photo of Watson taken on yacht Mina Cornelia just before all in the photo are delivered to the jetty at Furneaux Lodge Defence Lawyer Antunovic: Well, can I just tell you that that photograph was taken on New Years Eve Wallace: Really A: Yes. An appeal was later rejected by … Appeals rejected, case closed. In June 2020, it was announced that his case would be referred back to New Zealand's Court of Appeal. [14], Watson was arrested for the murders on 15 June 1998, about five months later. [27][28] On 6 December 2016, Watson was denied parole a second time because departmental psychologists again said his risk of violent offending was still "very high". The public and media pressure was unprecedented. At about 4.00 am, lodge bartender Guy Wallace drove Hope and Smart in his water taxi to Tamarack, where the pair intended to sleep. It was here, 20 years ago on New Year's Day 1998, that Scott arrived on the same boat, in the same sailing conditions. The friends disappeared after boarding a stranger's yacht early on January 1, 1998 after marking the new year with friends at Furneaux Lodge, a century-old, boat access-only resort in Endeavour Inlet. Journalist Ian Wishart told Tim Dower Mr Wallace seems to have finally twigged the mystery man was Watson. It will be the fourth time Watson has challenged his murder convictions. 1999. [34], The theory that Watson, after being taken from Furneaux Lodge to his boat, List of murder convictions without a body, "The Queen v Watson [2000] NZCA 46; [2003] NZAR 193 (8 May 2000)", "Sounds murders: Scott Watson's case sent to Court of Appeal", "Scott Watson, convicted of murder of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, granted new appeal", "NZ Police: page 10, para. The Arlidges say the owner of the ketch told them that he had been at the Furneaux Lodge when Mr Smart and Ms Hope disappeared. He prefers to focus on the evidence. [25] On 8 and 9 November 2016, the interview went ahead as planned. Joshua Misiak, 34, was shot to death in a car in the 600 block of Kendon Drive. "The hair and DNA evidence falls some way short of current standards and, in some respects, fell short of standards at the time.". At left, a sketch artist's drawing, done in 2010, of a possible suspect in the Montcalm County murders. Despite extensive searches in the months that followed, no bodies were found. The convictions brought a little closure, but no consolation for their parents, Mary and John Smart, and Gerald and Jan Hope. The two friends had been celebrating on New Year's Eve at Furneaux Lodge in the Marlborough Sounds with other partygoers. But the Arlidges … Thorough cleaning inside Blade, even cassette covers, supposedly to wipe away the evidence of two murders? This photo is a birds eye view of Furneaux lodge. It's just that simple. The police television programme Crimescene of 3 March featured Operation Tam and was used to reveal information about an assault by the mystery man at the centre of the inquiry on a mystery girl. The last time they were seen was about 4am on 1 January, when they were dropped off at a yacht on a water-taxi operated by lodge bartender Guy Wallace. The Doyle report forms part of a second application for the Royal Prerogative of Mercy lodged with the Ministry of Justice in November. Not a breath of wind. Olivia Hope and Ben Smart were two young New Zealanders, who had decided to spend New Year’s Eve, 1997, at the Furneaux Lodge in Endeavour Inlet, in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds at the top-end … In 2008, his appeal against that conviction failed. • See the full digital feature at nzherald.co.nz/murderinthesounds, Police searching for missing 12-year-old Gisborne boy, Watch: 'Keep your hands up!' [33], In 2007, Watson was found guilty by a magistrate of assaulting another inmate in Paparua Prison. 4. Hiker Double Cabins Ideal for the budget traveller. They've tested the trip — something police have never done — in similar conditions and it took two hours 30 minutes to cover the 11 nautical miles. Which leaves the two blonde hairs, found on a blanket with a tiger pattern retrieved from Scott's bunk. They put so much pressure on me," says Wallace. He steadfastly maintains Scott is innocent, that the evidence was cherry-picked to build a case around him. "And not from anything he's told me. Paul Davidson, QC, crown prosecutor briefed the jury on what they were about to see before taking them to the jetty area and then the garden bar and lawn areas. Hiker Double Cabins. Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, two young New Zealanders, were murdered in the early hours of the morning on New Year's Day, 1 January 1998. Much of the evidence during the trial in 1999 focussed on the yacht Smart and Hope were alleged to have boarded. In November 2000, after the Court of Appeal hearing, a witness who testified at Watson's trial contacted the Weekend Herald to say his evidence given under oath was "nothing more than an act". They were last seen boarding a yacht moored off Furneaux Lodge in the Marlborough Sounds. Instead they focused their attention on the single-masted sloop of Scott Watson, who was convicted for the murders and is serving a 17-year sentence. In March, after samples of Olivia's hairs were sent to the ESR laboratory, the tiger blanket strands were checked again. It's as simple as that.". You could call it haunted. About 400 strands of hair were taken from the blanket. This was, essentially, because the evidence was available at trial. The jury at his 1999 trial agreed. This was the last time Smart and Hope were seen alive.[7]. The 17-year-old Blenheim student had just finished college, and was working at a winery over the h... View Olivia Hope's genealogy profile; 3/29/2018 3/29/2018 Follow It also summarises the attached advice of Ms Kristy McDonald QC on the merits of Mr Watson’s application. It always comes back. 16. I walked into the Waikawa Bay cruising club and you could have heard a pin drop. He's angry about the photo. As one of the last people to see them alive, Wallace found himself at the centre of one of the biggest news events of the time. Police said they had information that the man hit the teenager near the Furneaux Lodge jetty the sa But both qualified the identification by saying the mystery man had facial hair and wavy, unkempt hair. Hope and Smart had been at Furneaux Lodge in the Marlborough Sounds for a New Years Eve Party to welcome in 1998. He had been imprisoned for two short periods in 1989 and 1990, but had just one minor conviction in the eight years leading up to 1998. In the early hours of New Year’s morning Ben and Olivia caught the Furneaux Lodge’s water taxi back to the Tamarack but found it crowded with 12 people occupying all the berths. Mary says she regularly bumps into Scott's father, Chris, at the supermarket. When Ben Smart and Olivia Hope disappeared on January 1, 1998, after seeing in the New Year at Furneaux Lodge, it didn’t take long for police to focus on Scott Watson as the likely culprit. Today we venture to New Zealand to find our crime story. The last time they were seen was about 4am on 1 January, when they were dropped off at a yacht on a water-taxi operated by lodge bartender Guy Wallace. Their disappearance led to one of the biggest police investigations in New Zealand history. "I don't believe [Scott] has it in him to do that — but I am not going to go down the track of being the emotional parent who is going to back his son no matter what." Wallace reckons he was the only sober person at Furneaux Lodge that night. 2000. It was the last time the pair were seen, and their remains have never been found. [3][4] In December 2020 parole was rejected over lack of psychological treatment. There was also a cut in the bag holding her hair. Coinciding with this new 5pm time, were serious cannabis growing charges against the Caretaker. In the following months, police concluded that the unidentified man was Scott Watson (born 28 June 1971). He had to register his boat but found it hard finding a name that was original. In fact I wish I'd said nothing. Neither Wallace or McNeilly were shown this photo of Scott and now feel they were tricked. "I don't think he should be let out.". The lodge offers a range of accommodation options, from contemporary suites to family-friendly cottages and basic cabins. It included a report by forensic scientist Sean Doyle which questioned whether the hairs were really Hope's, and criticised the way these hair samples were handled at the time of the original trial. Furneaux Lodge, Furneaux: See 17 traveller reviews, 14 candid photos, and great deals for Furneaux Lodge, ranked #1 of 1 Speciality lodging in Furneaux and rated 4 of 5 at Tripadvisor. That line of inquiry quickly became a murder investigation that would culminate in the arrest, trial, and eventual conviction of a boat owner named Scott Watson for the murders of Olivia Hope, 17, and Ben Smart, 21. According to IPCA chairwoman Justice Lowell Goddard, the various failures to adhere to the law and police manuals "exposed the integrity of the investigation to justifiable criticism and to the drawing of inferences about intention and motivation". Wallace let Smart and Hope off with the single man at the yacht, and then dropped off the two other passengers at their bach. Both swore affidavits for his application to the Governor-General to exercise the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, which was declined in 2013 on the advice of Kristy McDonald, QC. The disappearance of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope from Furneaux Lodge on New Years day 1998, has been one of the most controversial murder cases in NZ history. Wallace also described the unknown man he dropped them off with as unshaven with wavy medium-length hair. 2015. They called us liars," says Walsh. ", And he has a message for the mystery man: "These people need their kids laid to rest. [22][23], A 2010 report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority cleared police of allegations by Hunter and Watson's father Chris Watson. "I'm feeling tired. The circle on the left is the position of the mystery ketch. View deals for Furneaux Lodge, including fully refundable rates with free cancellation. There were suggestions he was somehow responsible for the pair's disappearance, he was accused of lying and covering up. Hope had travelled to the lodge with a group on a chartered yacht, Tamarack, while Smart had arrived separately. Her house overlooks the spot where Blade is moored, less than 100m away. He left early the following morning, but could not have had the young couple on board because they had been delivered by Guy Wallace to a two-masted ketch the previous night.