Cell tower data presented to a Dunedin court has raised questions over the location of a 21-year-old cleaner accused at the time of an alleged murder. At 12.35am on December 2, Merritt's phone connected to the Halfway Bush cell site – a tower only half a kilometre from his home. Mr Watson conducted tests two weeks after Ms Ross's death and found that site provided the strongest signal from Nairn St. Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Alastair Logan, Mr Watson said he had been instructed by police to drive the three different routes while testing cell-tower coverage. Mr Watson said records showed it was using data for more than 40 minutes from 1.37am on December 2 and for another session of 45 minutes starting at 5.34am that day.

Source: Otago Daily Times October 12, 2016 00:11 UTC