





Lisa Davies and Nick Ralston

Harriet Wran is led to Liverpool Local Court.

Harriet Wran is led to Liverpool Local Court. Photo: ABC News

The daughter of the late NSW premier Neville Wran, Harriet Wran, told police she never thought her boyfriend and a man she had only just met would "do what they did" when they allegedly murdered a small-time dealer over a $70 drug hit.

In a typed statement, which the 26-year-old gave police soon after her arrest, it is understood Ms Wran claims she was "numb on ice" when a fatal fight broke out in the living room of a Redfern unit on Sunday night.

Police will allege that Ms Wran had gone to the high-rise Housing NSW block on Walker Street with her boyfriend of two weeks, Michael Lee, 35, and a man she had just met, Lloyd Haines, 29, intending to score ice from small-time dealer Daniel John McNulty. 

But after Ms Wran knocked on the door, it is alleged Haines, in a balaclava, and Lee, in a beanie, entered the unit armed with knives and a hammer and demanded: "Where is it?" 

A fight broke out during which police allege Mr McNulty, a father and keen fisherman who had battled his addictions for years, was stabbed once in the leg and once in the back. The second strike punctured his right lung and was fatal.

Mr McNulty's roommate, Brett Fitzgerald, went to his aid. But as he, too, was also allegedly attacked, he found himself trying to fend off blows from the hammer with a shoe rack.

Ms Wran, Mr Lee and Mr Haines then allegedly ran from the apartment.

Mr Fitzgerald was taken to hospital and underwent surgery, later giving police descriptions of his attackers: "A male Aboriginal, a male of Asian decent and an attractive female."

Police were allegedly then able to identify their three suspects using security footage from the towering Housing NSW complex.

Mr Haines was arrested when he attended Parramatta police station on Tuesday. Ms Wran and Mr Lee were found by police at the Liverpool train station at 5:10pm on Wednesday still dressed in the clothes the CCTV footage showed them wearing on Sunday night.

Ms Wran had no money, identification or belongings. She declined an interview with police, instead providing a statement prepared with her legal team. This includes high-profile criminal defence barrister Winston Terracini, SC.

In it, the former University of Sydney student is believed to detail how she had met Mr Lee, who is known as "Asia", two weeks earlier. She allegedly met Mr Haines only that Sunday night.

She says she had taken $70 to the Redfern apartment and her intent was to buy drugs. Ms Wran is believed to have told detectives she "froze" after she knocked on the door but then did what she was told because she feared the consequences if she did not.

But police will allege that Mr Haines said Mr Lee, who allegedly told police he was a regular drug user who took several types of illicit substances a day, had gone to the apartment armed.

All three have been charged with murder, attempted murder and aggravated break and enter.

During a brief mention at Liverpool Local Court on Thursday, Mr Terracini said Ms Wran would would plead not guilty to the charges.

She did not appear or apply for bail, which was formally refused.

The case against all three returns to court in October.

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