The Crown's case against Scott Watson wrecked.

                             The case against Scott Watson - credible or nonsense?

Following along from recent work on the nature of Scott's conviction to see how it could be reviewed by the Parole Board after the absolute weakness of the secret witness testimony from 2 prisoners was finally recognized, it strikes home how preposterous the case was against Scott. There is no strong evidence of Ben and Oliva going onto Scott's boat. The former evidence was supported by the 2 prisoners and the hair evidence, now, both are sunk.

Most people will know that there is evidence Scott returned to his own boat alone as the only passenger aboard the Anderson Naiad, following which, according to the Crown, he went back ashore with the Prosecutor saying it didn't matter how because it just happened even if the Crown could not explain the details. The first problem is Scott not being seen ashore a second time which remains a fatal difficulty. But let's think about the other known evidence.

Firstly, there is no contest Scott went back to the Blade alone. There is also no contest there is only one recorded event of him having returned to the raft up which the Blade was in with 2 other boats. Soon after, he was waking people on other boats asking for them to continue to drink with him and invited one woman to come aboard his sloop after her partner turned down the offer to party. He was smartly rebuffed.

Common sense says that Ben and Olivia cannot have been with him at that time, because he is required to go back ashore in the Crown case, because he has been turned down for both drinking or sleeping partners by others in the raft up. He would not have done that had the couple already been with him. That is the reason the Crown dreamed up the second trip after the Naiad driver Anderson said, and maintained under pressure that Scott was alone on a single trip to the raft up. So according to the Crown, he's gone back alone and failed to find anyone to drink with him or come aboard his own yacht so despite it being early morning he's gone back to shore - unseen this time.

Much was made of Scott's behaviour at Furneaux Lodge which he has said himself was obnoxious and probably not unlike a lot of other young men that night worse for wear from alcohol or smoking drugs. That being the case he was successfully blamed for inviting young women onto what he is alleged to have said, was the only ketch in the Bay that night to sail to Tonga according to witnesses. In fact, there were up to 3 ketches in the bay that night if you don't take into account the flat-bottomed Alliance as not being a ketch but rather a flat-bottomed barge. However, it was the skipper of one of the ketches, a married man, around Scott's build but older with tattoos, who was inviting the young ladies at the table to take the trip with him. 

He was also not a tall man but was with his wife and a friend that night playing on the pool table and one stage with students and young women. Out of earshot of his wife, the man invited the young ladies to sail to Tonga with him as being on the "only ketch in the Bay," the Toranui. which the man was not shy of mentioning by name. He was joking of course and most of the group saw that and later described the man differently than Scott, apart from one. She was the only one called to give that evidence.

There is no proof that the second trip was made but much proof of the alternative that Scott stayed on the Blade alone as you've already read above. Scott didn't have the couple locked on the Blade when he went to see others in the raft up, because how was going to take a female companion back to the Blade with Ben and Olivia already there, supposedly locked inside the cabin, which has since been agreed by Sir Panckhurst as impossible because the hatch only locked from the inside, another critical part of the case now dust.

Looking further at it, we must remember that Olivia was upset when her berth on the Tamarack was taken by non-paying freeloaders and left angrily with Ben to go back to the wharf and take another Naiad to what others say was a ketch, not a boat in raft up which with one look, and seeing it was only a single cabin sloop showed no concern that she had when going on the Tamarack among friends and finding her berth had been pinched.

As began soon after the investigation started a ketch had become a sloop with a lone man aboard possibly around the same time Scott was getting back to shore unseen and able to convince the young couple he had a sloop which they found out 10 minutes later was a lie still went aboard with him, and either waited silently as he went aboard other boats in the raft up or did not object to having been lied to and found themselves in a worse position than going aboard the Tamarack but made no noise about it to the Naiad driver Wallace, and meekly boarded.

Repeat they did not ask to be taken away when they saw the "ketch" was a sloop and the only people able to confirm the story of them leaving the naiad it was agreed by Crown witnesses were in the Wallace naiad, 2 remaining in the naiad while Ben and Olivia went aboard a ketch with a man never identified as Scott by having a ketch and not a sloop.

Reading the Panckhurst report there was a situation presented by which the defence was offered to have the investigation broadened in terms of the fresh evidence of Tony Kiernan. For reasons unknown, the defence turned that down, most probably because of the weakening of the entire case being enough for the RPOM to succeed but only time will reveal those reasons.

In summary, the emotion-rendering evidence of the prison witnesses held up the shortfalls in the hair evidence and vice versa. Now however both are weakened allowing the supposed second trip as unbelievable when standing on its own merits not confused by the hair evidence or claims about Scott's behaviour. With the full truth known the case was always weak but the propaganda, lies and dirty tricks enabled the Crown to have its day. Now it has nowhere to hide. So Scott did not return to the shore unseen only to come back with the couple, it's absolute nonsense that should never have been allowed to have been heard in a Court, just like the rest of the case.