Murder Of British Woman Jacqueline Blackbourn, Trial Underway – Updated

Jacqueline Blackbourn had a heart of gold

The trial of the man accused of the murder and rape of British immigrant, Jacqueline Blackbourn, got underway at Auckland Crown Court today. The man has already pleaded guilty to a charge of arson.

The Crown said in its opening statement that Jacqueline had been raped, strangled and stabbed to death before being set alight in her Glenfield home. A knife had been plunged into her chest with such force that it when through her sternum. Siobhan Buckley told the court that Jacqueline’s boyfriend could not accept the fact that their two year relationship was over and was “relentless in his attempts” to get her back.

A former girlfriend of the accused was in tears when she told about three incidents in which

“household items were smashed and she was physically or verbally assaulted.

After one dinner party she said the accused went “absolutely crazy”, dragging her down the hallway before pushing her up against the kitchen bench and putting his hands around her throat.

“I thought he was going to kill me for sure. I was terrified really,” she said.

Under cross-examination, the woman admitted that she hadn’t called police or sought medical attention after the incidents.

“I’d say nine out of 10 women who get beat don’t go to police,” she told the court…” source

Ms Blackbourn was found in her burning house in Glenfield, North Shore in June 2010. At the time of the accused man’s  arrest, news reports said a 28 year old man had appeared in court and

Police said that Ms Blackbourn, 43, suffered a violent death inside the View Road, Glenfield, house on the night of June 26. Police said the man, who has interim name suppression, was also charged with historical offences that related to another female complainant.  These included injuring with intent to injure, assault with intent to injure, assault with a weapon and intentional damage…

…Ms Blackbourn came to New Zealand from England 20 years ago.”

Update:  Steve Ellis, 30, was subsequently found guilty of rape and murder and sentenced to ‘life’ imprisonment with a minimum non parole period of just 19 years. more here

In our blog of 30 June 2010 we reported that the NZ Herald said that Jacqueline had recently split up with her partner, Steve Ellis. He was severely burned in the fire was found outside the property wearing only his underpants. Her former boyfriend, Karl Hawthorne, told reporters that Ms Blackbourn:

“worked in the accounts section of Harvey Norman at Wairau Park, was “the life of the party” and loved dancing, Mr Hawthorne said.

She missed her family, who were all overseas.

“She was really close to her mum,” he said. “There wouldn’t have been two days go by that she wasn’t in contact with her.”

Another friend, Margie Cardwell, described Ms Blackbourn as an “English rose”. “She was really feminine and girly, looked quite young for her age. She had a heart of gold.”

Ms Blackbourn’s brother, Tommaso Cerullo, yesterday left a heartfelt message for her on a social networking website.

“Rest in peace my darling sister. Love you and always will. You will never be forgotten in my heart or soul, miss you so much.

“To all the people that had the pleasure of having their heart lifted by her kindness and her smile, thank you for being there for her.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Kim Libby, of North Shore CIB, said police officers hoped to speak to Mr Ellis in the next couple of days.

His injuries were not life-threatening, he added.

They would continue combing the scene of the fire today. A post mortem examination has been carried out on Ms Blackbourn, but police have declined to reveal the cause of death, saying only that it was violent.”

Our deepest sympathies are again extended to Jacqueline’s family and friends for their terrible loss. Our thoughts are with you all in the difficult days that lie ahead during the trial.

Domestic Violence a problem in New Zealand

Far from being the safe haven it wishes to present to the world, life in New Zealand is a misery for hundreds of thousands of women, a third of them have been affected by domestic violence at some time during their lives.

New Zealand has an appalling record for domestic violence and some of the highest preventable child death stats in the developed world.  After a spike in referrals to Women’s refuges after the shock of the All Black defeat in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, refuges were on standby for an influx if New Zealand lost again in 2011.

NZ’s appalling record for domestic violence is shamed by an international human rights group

“Police statistics show a 15% increase in the number of family violence incidents and offences in 2007-08, with more than 86,000 reports made. They say family violence affects a third of all women during their lifetime and that 45% of murders in New Zealand are family violence-related.

Meanwhile, a second report calling for an overhaul of systems to keep women and girls safe is being presented alongside the New York findings. The report, by a newly-formed local group called the Roundtable of Violence Against Women, says certain types of violence and victims are being overlooked. This includes prostitutes who come from countries known for trafficking, such as Korea, Thailand, Eastern Europe and the Philippines.

It also highlights the “serial abuse” of many immigrant women, saying both Women’s Refuge and the Shakti Community Council have evidence that men are using women’s residency status to exploit them and keep them in abusive relationships…” April 2009 source

For more read our blogs tagged violence against women.

Murder On Prime Minister’s Doorstep

Lee McMurdo

Another tragic and violent loss of life has occurred in New Zealand, this time in Helensville – the parliamentary constituency of John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand.

The 12 year old daughter of Lee Ross McMurdo (32) found his lifeless body on the driveway of his home just south of the North Island village. Our deepest sympathies are extended to the friends and family of Mr McMurdo at this very difficult time.

Police say that they have commenced a homicide inquiry

The officer leading the inquiry, Detective Inspector Greg Cramer, would not say what the post mortem examination results were, other than that they showed, “someone else may have been involved in his death”.

The injuries he had led police to that conclusion.

“Suffice to say we believe the matter is now a homicide.”

Mr McMurdo is said to have recently moved into the rented property and is believed to be a ex-student of Helensville’s Kaipara College, his daughter attends a school close to where his body was found. His death is sure to come as a shock to the small community in which he lived.

Police are keeping quiet about the circumstances surrounding his demise but there are some similarities with the death of Feilding farmer, Scott Guy, who was shot on the driveway of his home in July last year.

Mr McMurdo’s death wasn’t the only suspected homicide in the Auckland region in the last few days, 18 year old Warren Rosillo was fatally stabbed outside a house on Greenhill Crescent, Pakuranga, at about 11pm on Friday. A 17 year old male has appeared in court charged with  possession of an offensive weapon but police say more serious charges are likely to be laid later on today. Our thoughts are with Warren’s family and friends who are understandably devastated by his passing.

So far this year the Sensible Sentencing Trust has counted 9 killings in the Auckland/Helensville Area and 26 nationally. Last year there were 57.

John Key’s National Party have promised to reduce New Zealand’s crime statistics. And reduce the recorded crime statics they did, despite the severe economic conditions that New Zealand is under. But let’s not forget that behind every carefully recorded death statistic there is a story of personal grief and incalculable loss.

If the events of the last few days are anything to go by they still have a long way to go to reduce the true level of crime in New Zealand.

Edit: the day after this blog was written police began an investigation into another death at rural property in Te Puke in the Bay of Plenty.

You may also be interested in

• Northland schoolkids march against crime (our blog from April 2011):

“In the week that the NZ government made a surprise announcement about a  drop in the rate of reported crime, and murders (note how the manslaughter figures weren’t mentioned) a group of Northland primary school kids took to the streets to protest about crime in their neighbourhood.

From the Northern Advocate

“A youth hikoi through an under-fire Whangarei community yesterday urged residents to make a stand against the gangs, crime and drugs plaguing their suburb.

About 100 youngsters from Otangarei Primary School and the suburb’s kohanga reo, accompanied by their parents, marched through Otangarei to make a stand against the violence and crime that is affecting them. They also urged residents to put aside their fears and report any criminal activity in the suburb…” read the ful report here

The paper went on to explain how the suburb had been plagued by a number of events including families moving out in January as a power struggle between two gangs (Black Power and the Tribesmen) threatened to boil over.

Earlier in March police reported that “Otangarei residents were often scared to identify offenders for fear of reprisals.” and that their work was being frustrated by people using police scanners to tip-off their mates about police actions.

According to the Advocate the kids were carrying banners saying  “Keep Us Safe,”  “A Clean Community,”  “Gangs Suck,”  “No Child Abuse,”  “We Want a Peaceful Otangarei,”  “No Graffiti,” and “No Fighting“

These children want their elders to get the message that they’ve had enough, they want to live in a safe community.

The message here is that if you live in a community that’s affected by crime put aside your fears about retaliation, if kids can do it so can you - report it to the police and make sure they record it, otherwise the government may use the drop in recorded crime as an excuse to rest on its laurels, or worse still make cut backs to police funding … more here

• Drop in murder rate statistics questionable - ACT website

Service Station Shooting In Wairoa – Police Out As Gangs Clash

Gangs of New Zealand

Yesterday a middle aged man was shot in the back as he filled-up at a service station in Wairoa, what makes the crime particularly disturbing is that it happened during a busy time of day and other people could’ve been hurt or killed in the attack.

A RadioNZ report said it was only a matter of time before someone got killed and that

“Mayor Les Probert said a shooting in such a public place has connotations. He says its bad enough when gangs are fighting amongst themselves, but at least in that circumstance members of the public aren’t in danger.

On Tuesday, a 17-year-old man was shot in the chest outside the Mongrel Mob headquarters. There have been four shootings in the town this year.

According to a later NZ Herald report the mayor said

“”We have got these two gangs, one of each side of the river and of course it doesn’t matter what agreement you come to with one of them, if another drives past and fires a gun then there’s retaliation.”

Although no mention of drugs/gang involvement was made in the original police reports (it seldom is these days in New Zealand) the intimation was there if you read between the lines – note a police report on the incident on infonews stated  “members of the public going about their normal activities” and not “other members of the public”:

30 October

A 48 year old man received gunshot wounds after an incident on the forecourt of a service station in WAIROA. The man had stopped to fuel his vehicle when he was approached by another person who fired two shots which struck the victim in the side and back. The offender then ran off.

AOS and CIB staff from GISBORNE were in WAIROA overnight and will return to continue the enquiry this morning. The victim of the shooting has come out of surgery and is in a stable condition in HASTINGS Hospital.

Police are concerned that the shooting took place at a busy time of the day when the service station forecourt had members of the public going about their normal activities, and seek their assistance to identify the offender. Source

The two gangs mostly likely to be involved are probably Black Power and the Mongrel Mob, following Tuesday’s clash between the two outside a mob house on Kaimoana St, in which a 17 year old male was shot.

Understandably this latest shooting has caused some consternation among ‘the public’ and soon became the topic of conversation on the Trademe message boards among Kiwis.

Conversation rapidly turned to how gang activity is spoiling the area and suggestion that high unemployment was resulting in increased crime/gang activity:

• Morning ***, how horrible, its such a shame ,as Wairoa is a lovely town, But one i wouldnt like to be living in now.

• Wow! I must be thinking of a different Wairoa. The one I know is on the way to the worst town in NZ, Gisborne. Now both those places are real shitholes.

• No i dont think you are thinking of a different Wairoa ,nor for that fact Gisborne, not all parts are the same, its just a shame they are moving the violence into the township its self.

• i have to agree with **** on this,what a shithole of a place,full of gangs.

• Gisborne is a very nice place to live, there’s just certain places you don’t go like any city. I have to go down to Wairoa for work and there’s some very lovely people. The gangs are the problem, not the town.

• Its a town in the middle of no where and high unemployment. Of course the gangs will set up residence there …… plenty of bush for their lucrative horticulture business

• In Gisborne in 1968, I was spat at and called a Pakeha (one reason why I loathe that name). I had a similar experience in Whangarei 3 years later. These experiences have forever coloured my opinion of both towns. Last year I returned to Gisborne and although no-one spat at me, I still felt uneasy there, so filled up with petrol and moved on to Tauranga quick smart.

• I’ve lived in Gisborne for 31 years and have never had an experience like that, racism is ugly but it’s not confined to a couple of places.

• I agree. However, that can be all it takes to colour one’s opinion. Its hard to overlook what to some are trivial things, but its stuck in my mind all these years.

• AND Look at the houses for sale in Wairoa. lovely too some of them.. what a shame. I could live there.Plenty fishing and Hunting and all the facilities that you NEED not Want…Shame shame..has the Works not started back up there yet…gee BMWNZ 1968!!! they have moved on.. Just fight you in the courts now!!! “let it go”

• We moved there in 2001 due to hubbys work and moved away again in 2004 I was glad to be out of there as it is a very stressful town , very negative feeling but we did meet some lovely people there. It will never change as most people there dont want to accept change. They hate out of towners coming to their town and suggesting new ideas , the residents are too set in their ways what a shame.

• what i can never understand is why the gangs are held in such high regard and education which could free so many of them isnt same as when i saw that feature on that terry guy in huntly the other night all those little wannabes and yet they have so much choice in the world being so young yet they are already limiting themselves

As the day progressed the press finally managed to get their teeth into the incident, with the NZ Herald running a report with the headline - “Police out as Wairoa gangs clash.”

The Herald confirmed that it was a Mongrel Mob member who’d been shot and it appeared to be in retaliation for the shooting of the 17 year old earlier in the week, the youth is alleged to be a Black Power member.

Police and the AOS (armed offenders squad) will be out in force in the town tonight in an effort to prevent any further violence.

There seems to be some tolerance for inter gang warfare in the area, with authorities only getting twitchy when it spills out onto the streets and presents a risk to innocent people.

Restrictions on the reporting of crime in NZ

If you recall back in July of this year we blogged about the Gisborne Herald running a piece called Crime, What Crime? in which the paper said that police in the area had decided to restrict the information on crime they provide to media in a move to “make the community feel safer“

At that time we asked the question “isn’t it preferable to create a safer, low crime community rather than mislead people into thinking that it is?” Raising public awareness of crime could be a valuable tool in combating lawless behaviour and raising the public’s intolerance of law breaking and gang activities.

Read “no notice from police” in the Gisborne Herald for example of how restrictions on reporting of crime may have already adversely impacted on people in Gisborne

The Dom Post also reported on the police’s ‘media policy’ in an article on Stuff.co.nz that had within in its  URL “Gisborne police defend information blackout” but with a headline of “Gisborne police stand firm on keeping some crime quiet”.

Their coverage was much the same as in other publications but they did publish a rather interesting list of crime figures under the heading:

SPOTLIGHT ON OFFENDED

NZ Police figures for offences per 10,000 people:

which showed that for Eastern District: Gisborne, Napier and Hastings, the figures for serious assaults, alcohol offences, cannabis offences and sexual attacks were well above the national rates, which made it even more odd that crime information given to the media was restricted.

Napier Gang Attack

Nearby Napier was also in the news today for a gang related attack on an innocent member of the public by a mob wannabe out on bail for murder:

A teenager involved in a near-fatal daylight gang attack on a stranger walking through a Napier alley was on bail awaiting trial for murder, it was revealed in court yesterday.

Hemi Winitana was one of four Mongrel Mob wannabes alleged to have been involved in the attack between Latham St and Riverbend Rd on the afternoon of January 29, when Winitana was 17…more here

You may also be interested in: Always Blow on the Pie – community policing and safer communities together in New Zealand, a legendary video.

Click on the links for more blog posts about

Gisborne

Wairoa

Hastings

Napier

Gangs

Gun crime

The Scott Guy Murder – Puppies Missing, Vandalism At Farm

Almost two weeks on and Police are still no further forward in the search for the killers of Feilding Farmer Scott Guy.

Mr Guy, aged 31, was found shot in the throat on the driveway of his Feilding farm on the morning of 8 July 2010. His brutal and violent death devastated his young family, leaving his young pregnant wife Kylee without a life partner she was devoted to and their 2 year old son Hunter without an adored father.

Since the shooting information has gradually emerged that the Guy’s Aorangi Rd home was extensively vanadalised in January 2009 during its  construction.

Vandalism at Scott Guy's Farm

An old farmhouse previously on the property had been burned to the ground in a “suspicious fire” in October 2008 and in the two months previous to that items had been stolen from it.

According to a report released today three chocolate Labrador puppies*, out of a litter of eight, went missing from a building on the farm sometime between  5pm on 7 July and Mr Guy’s death the following morning.

The building where the puppies were kept is said to have been around 80 metres from where Mr Guy was shot. As far as we know nothing else was taken from the property at the time Mr Guy died and there appears to be no motive for the murder.

Fliers advertising the puppies’ sale had been left in local businesses at the end of June. However, it has taken almost two weeks for police to release that information and ask the public for help in finding them.

A neighbour has told the  Manawatu Standard that she’d locked her doors after hearing a loud car racing down the street about 10.30pm on 7 July:

“It was doing laps around Aorangi Rd and Durie St (ed. Durie Road?) and this is unusual as we don’t see many people out here at that time of the night,” she said.

The paper went on to add that an email was circulated to residents in the area warning about a recent attempted burglary of a shed.

TVNZ reported last night that there were rumours in the town that Mr Guy had confronted gang members after finding and destroying cannabis plants on his farm.

Despite Feilding being a tight-knit community no one has come forward with any tip-offs or information for the police and Mr Guy’s wife and child have gone into hiding (read police disappointed with silence)

Aorangi Road, although rural in nature, is very close to the conurbation of Feilding and the family lived toward the north eastern end of the road:

View Larger Map

*Purebred Chocolate Labrador puppies are valuable dogs. One litter in nearby Palmerston North is currently being advertised on TradeMe at $600 a puppy.

Read also:  Safety becoming a necessity for farmers – “The murder of Manawatu farmer Scott Guy is being described as an unfortunate sign of the times….”

Man Charged With The Murder Of Jacqueline Blackbourn

A 26 year old man from North Shore, Auckland has been charged with a number of offences following the death of Kent woman and  English rose ,Jacqueline Blackbourn, in Glenfield two weeks ago

Auckland, NZPA July 14 – A man charged with murdering Jacqueline Blackbourn, whose body was found in a burning Auckland house last month, has been remanded in custody to appear later this month. The 28-year-old man appeared in the North Shore District Court this afternoon.

Police said that Ms Blackbourn, 43, suffered a violent death inside the View Road, Glenfield, house on the night of June 26. Police said the man, who has interim name suppression, was also charged with historical offences that related to another female complainant.  These included injuring with intent to injure, assault with intent to injure, assault with a weapon and intentional damage.

The man was remanded in custody to reappear in the North Shore District Court on July 28.

Ms Blackbourn came to New Zealand from England 20 years ago.”

At the time of the fire it was alleged that the man she had recently split up with, Steve Ellis, was found partially clothed and burned outside of her property.

See also:

NZ’s appalling record for domestic violence is shamed by an international human rights group

New Zealand has fifth highest murder rate in the OECD

Murdered woman’s British friends forced to busk until flights resume