Circumstantial cases often rely on the totality of evidence – how each piece fits together to create a bigger picture, almost like putting a puzzle together. Sometimes, the puzzle is left with some empty spots. Sometimes, the puzzle comes together completely. But it’s always reliant on how each individual piece fits in with the whole, rather than relying on one ‘smoking gun’.
In the case of the disappearance of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, the puzzle was forced to form a picture that doesn’t seem to match the pieces given.
In 1997, Ben Smart and Olivia Hope were friends who had decided to celebrate New Year’s Eve together at Furneaux Lodge, in the Endeavour Inlet of the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand. Ben was 21, intelligent, and was set to start working at his father’s company. Olivia had just graduated from school. She was working part-time, and was studying law, music, and politics at university.
The Furneaux Lodge hosted roughly 1500-2000 partygoers on New Year’s Eve, 1997. They’d booked a place to stay the night on a yacht called Tamarack, and were ready to make their way to there after ringing in 1998. At around 4:00 AM on January 1st, they found that freeloaders had stolen their beds. They intended to find somewhere else to stay, and boarded a water taxi driven by Guy Wallace.
Guy had served Olivia and Ben throughout the night, as he was bartending at the Lodge. As the night wound down, he volunteered to drive water taxi, to get partygoers where they needed to be safely, as he was sober. Three other passengers boarded with Ben and Olivia: Hayden Morresey, Sarah Dyer, and an unidentified third man, known as the Mystery Man.
The Mystery Man offered a place for Ben and Olivia to sleep, as he’d heard about their struggle to find lodgings. Guy dropped the three off at a ketch, a larger boat with 2 masts, and then dropped Hayden and Sarah off at their bach – a small beach house.
This is the last known sighting of Ben and Olivia alive.
On January 2nd, Ben and Olivia were reported missing. The Blenheim police took over the investigation, and they soon came to the conclusion that this was incredibly suspicious, as disappearing without a word was out of character for the incredibly responsible pair.
The investigation soon earned the name Operation Tam, for Tamarack, with Detective Inspector Rob Pope taking the charge. By January 5th, multiple investigative bodies joined forces to investigate the disappearances.
Guy Wallace described to investigators the events of New Year’s Eve, and the early morning hours where Ben and Olivia were on his water taxi. He told them about the Mystery Man, and described him as having roughly 2-days worth of beard growth on his face, possibly an arm tattoo, a wiry build, short, dark, wavy hair, roughly 5’9” in height, and he wore worn, scruffy clothing.
He told them that the Mystery Man had been paying Olivia undue attention, making most people on his water taxi uncomfortable. Ben tried to shield her, but the Mystery Man would not be deterred.
Guy was then shown photo montages of various suspects – including a photograph of Scott Watson. However, Guy didn’t recognize anyone in the montage. He was then shown another one which showed a different photo of Scott Watson – one where his eyes were half-closed in what has now become known as the “blink photo”.
Under extreme police pressure to make an identification, and with his attention being forcibly drawn to Scott Watson, Guy picked his photo out of the montage, and said that he vaguely resembled the Mystery Man from his water taxi. However, Scott Watson himself was too short, and his appearance much tidier than Guy’s description. Investigators didn’t seem too worried about that. They were more concerned with making “facts” fit their own narrative.
Guy also explained how he’d dropped Ben, Olivia, and the Mystery Man off at a 2-masted ketch. He told them it was roughly 38 to 40 feet, and drew them a rough sketch of the paint on the outside. He told them that it was well-maintained built of timber, and had a thick blue stripe on the hull, as well as several portholes with brass accents.
Multiple witnesses stated that they’d seen a ketch matching that description travelling through the waters. The accounts even included one from a former police officer with over 40 years’ experience in investigation.
Investigators did not follow up. As far as they were concerned, they knew who was responsible. Why should they bother following other leads or evidence?
It was later revealed by a retired officer who worked the case that investigators were explicitly instructed not to follow up on any sightings of a two-masted ketch, or face serious consequences.
On January 12th, Scott Watson’s boat, Blade, was seized. Blade only had 1 mast, and was not nearly large enough to match the description Guy had given investigators. It was also made of steel, not timber, and didn’t have any portholes.
But, again, none of that mattered. To them, Scott Watson was responsible. They just had to force-fit the puzzle pieces together to form the picture.
Scott Watson had a history of burglary, theft, cannabis offences, two counts of possessing an offensive weapon, and one of assault from his teenage years. From 1989 to 1990 he spent two short periods in prison. These experiences encouraged him to clean up his act. By 1998, he was an upstanding citizen, trying to make a life for himself.
Scott was considered the main suspect from the early days of the investigation. His boat, the Blade, was seized and thoroughly searched. Many in the community were shocked by this, as they didn’t believe Scott to be at all capable of committing the horrendous crime he’d been accised of.
Investigators spoke with his neighbours, his friends, and his colleagues, and began sowing the seeds of doubt. They willfully leaked rumours to reporters, horrible rumours that are not worth repeating, and even leaked Scott’s criminal history to Gerald Hope, Olivia’s father.
Investigators followed members of the Watson family without cause, and placed them under surveillance without a warrant granting them permission to do so. They intimidated them unnecessarily.
They then put in a request for a warrant to tap the Watson family’s phone lines, which was granted. After over 70 hours of conversation – some of which they coached Watson’s then girlfriend to conduct – they didn’t hear anything incriminating. The most they got was that Scott sounded “smug”, which seemed to be more than enough to convince them he was responsible for the disappearances.
Scott Watson was arrested for the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope on June 15th, 1998.
His trial began on June 10th, 1999 and concluded on September 11th, 1999, lasting a total of 11 weeks.
The Crown’s entire case hinged on their firm belief that Scott lured Olivia and Ben, with Olivia being his main target, onto the Blade. Another water taxi driver testified that he dropped Scott off at the Blade between 2:00 AM and 4:00 AM on January 1st, 1998. Occupants of neighbouring boats testified that Scott woke them up in the early hours because he wanted to continue partying.
The Crown then argued the “two-trip theory” – that somehow, Scott returned to shore after the water taxi driver had dropped him off at the Blade. They could not prove this actually happened, nor could they say what time this occurred, but they were absolutely sure that it had.
They then argued that the Blade left Endeavour Inlet before 6:00 AM on New Year’s Day, carrying Olivia and Ben’s bodies, which were then dumped into Cook Strait. Scott then returned to Erie Bay, and lied about when he got there. Again, the Crown had nothing really to prove this, other than witnesses who claimed to have seen Scott in an altercation on the shore around 3:00 AM or 3:30 AM, and then various witness sightings of the Blade throughout the day.
The case was entirely circumstantial, and relied heavily on evidence that had been acquired through rather messy means. Guy Wallace and Roz McNeilly, the manager at Furneaux Lodge, both filed affidavits stating that police had misled them both into identifying Scott Wallace in the photo montages they’d seen. Yet the Crown stood firm on their initial identifications, despite this.
The Crown also argued that they’d found hair belonging to Olivia on a blanket that had been taken in for forensic investigation from the Blade.
Mitochondrial DNA analysis on the hairs found on the blanket was conducted. One hair was alleged to have belonged to Olivia. However, these tests were not 100% conclusive, and were left mainly to speculation that the hair matched.
The defense questioned these results. The forensic analyst had been examining the hair from the blanket and Olivia’s hair on the same table, with seemingly nothing keeping them apart. It was also found that a hole or approximately 1 centimetre was found in the evidence bag containing Olivia’s hair. It was entirely possible that the evidence had been cross-contaminated, which the forensic analyst testified was a possibility that needed to be considered.
The accuracy and validity of these tests have been a source of contention throughout the course of the investigation, the trial, and it’s aftermath.
But the most ridiculous – and damning for Scott Wallace – came from two prison “informants”, Witness A and Witness B.
They both alleged that they met Scott Wallace in prison, and that he told them that he was responsible for the disappearances of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, with Witness B further testifying that he and Scott have become good friends in Addington Prison.
Witness A later admitted that he had lied in court. He stated that at the time of the trial, he had been receiving death threats from another inmate. Investigators had visited him multiple times, and pressured him into making false statements. He hoped that by doing so, they’d be able to save his life in prison, and expedite his upcoming parole hearing.
Witness B later revealed that he and Scott had very little opportunity to form any kind of friendship in prison. He revealed that police granted him the use of a car and a cellphone upon his release from prison in exchange for falsifying his testimony.
However, these revelations would come too late for Scott Wallace.
On September 11th, 1999, Scott Wallace was found guilty of the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope. He was then sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
Following the trial, Guy Wallace and Roz McNeilly maintained that investigators had purposefully misled them. Guy further claimed that he suspected he knew the identity of the Mystery Man, but was too afraid to expose the man for fear of his own life. But he maintained that the Mystery Man on his water taxi had never, ever, been Scott Wallace.
Scott Wallace appealed his conviction in April and May of 2000. It was decided that there was no new evidence to recommend a second trial.
In 2009, Scott applied to the Governor-General for a Royal Prerogative of Mercy. Two reports on the case were then filed based on this application in 2011 and 2013. It was determined that the Crown’s circumstantial case had been undermined following the trial, and that the Court of Appeal would uphold an appeal if an application for one was made.
Scott’s father, Chris Watson, and journalist Keith Hunter filed a complaint to the Independent Police Conduct Authority about the conduct of the investigators through the course of the case. They alleged that Rob Pope, the lead investigator on the case, ignored other avenues of investigation, ignored relevant evidence, spread rumours himself about the Watson family, and allowed the investigators under his direction to do the same.
Justice Lowell Goddard made a statement to the effect that the complaint was difficult to assess, and stated that “some actions of police fell short of best practice, and had the potential to influence witnesses”.
In 2015, Scott attended his first parole hearing, and has appeared before the board a total of four times. The Board has decided that they will not release Scott until he’s had psychological treatment to address his risk of reoffending. He has been assessed as a high risk based on his murder convictions, for which Scott has continuously maintained his innocence.
In November of 2017, an application for a Royal Prerogative of Mercy was filed for the second time. It was filed by a man who had taken an interest int he case on Scott’s behalf, outlining concerns in relation to the testing of the hair found on the blanket in comparison to hair belonging to Olivia Hope.
The application was denied.
In June of 2020, the concern around the reliability of the hair testing resulted in a report stating that Scott’s case would be referred back to the Court of Appeal.
This hearing is set to take place in June of 2024.
The bodies of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope have never been found.
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Sources:
Ben Smart-Olivia Hope murder: The Crown case against Scott Watson – NZ Herald
Olivia Hope and Ben Smart went missing 24 years ago. The man in prison for their murders insists he’s innocent. – Mamamia.com
Chasing Ghosts: Murder in the Sounds podcast – Carolyne Meng-Yee and Jared Savage – NZ Herald
Murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope Wikipedia page