There was a lot of trash talk at the Christchurch High Court on Wednesday as the Michael McGrath murder trial took a deep dive into the dump.
The day after the Crown alleges David Benbow murdered his friend Michael McGrath, he was seen taking a load to the dump - sparking an exhaustive scene investigation by police.
The police often have to do dirty work but this was on another level.
Dozens of police officers spent more than six weeks combing the Kate Valley landfill, sometimes searching through 100 tonnes of rubbish each day.
They were searching for items dumped by murder-accused Benbow. CCTV footage showed him discarding around 11 small armfuls of waste from his vehicle.
"He then walks back to his vehicle, picks up a small item from the boot which he throws underhand into the pit," Senior Constable Danny Schaare told the jury.
That was dumped at the Parkhouse Ecostore before being transported to the Kate Valley Landfill, where the police search was centred.
"Looking for a pair of jeans and there were numerous pairs of jeans so we took every pair we found," Detective Roger Carran said.
They also sought through hundreds of keys that may have been for McGrath's car or his house.
These searches were fruitless, with nothing of interest found.
The boss of Christchurch Ecostores also took the stand on Wednesday and said Benbow's two dump visits prior to this involved large trailer loads of garbage, but this May visit was just a few items.
"That's because the weight was under 20 kilos," Ecostore CEO Craig Downie said.
The dump evidence ended with the trial judge, Justice Eaton, saying he'd quite like to ask some more questions for the boss of the Ecostore, but only because that was the same dump he visited most weekends - offering a light moment of humour in what’s now week five of the murder trial.
