A New Zealand woman has been charged with murdering her elderly mother, the prosecution said on Monday, alleging that she carried out a cryptocurrency 'exit scam' days before the incident, extracting thousands of dollars through forged trading profits while having lost over $40,000 in cryptocurrency and bitcoin investments the previous year.

Julia DeLuney is on trial in Wellington High Court for the alleged murder of her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory. The incident occurred on January 24, 2024, at Gregory's residence in Khandallah.

The prosecution accuses DeLuney of staging the scene to make it appear as though her mother fell to her death from the attic, but forensic experts determined that the fatal injuries, including multiple blunt force traumas to the head, were inconsistent with a fall.