12 Dec 2014

Public help to catch axe attacker

5:55 pm on 12 December 2014

The police say two members of the public helped catch a man charged with murdering a woman with an axe in Upper Hutt last night.

Retimana te Korou Nicholls,36, was charged with murder after an axe attack in Upper Hutt last night. He appeared in the Hutt Valley District Court this morning.

Detective Inspector Darrin Thomson said two men who witnessed some part of the incident intervened as the alleged assailant ran and managed to catch him just as the police arrived and arrested him.

He said police were called by neighbours and alerted to the incident.

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"They've seen some activity and particularly one of them has decided to step in because he could see it escalating and due to that and the actions, of the police officers in initial attendance, I'm sure we've avoided any further victims."

Nicholls, a resident of Upper Hutt, faced one charge of murder, two charges of assault causing grievous bodily harm and one charge of assault.

He entered no plea during his brief appearance before Judge Tony Walsh and was remanded in custody until 26 January. His lawyer asked for the case to be referred to the High Court.

The incident happened at 8.45pm last night.

Police were called to Blueberry Grove in Timberlea in Upper Hutt and found a 55-year-old woman dead in a house.

Two men were also in hospital with serious but non life-threatening injuries.

One was an occupant of the house where the attack happened.

The scene of the axe attack.

The Blueberry Grove address in Upper Hutt where last night's axe attack took place. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski

A forensic tent has been erected at the property in Upper Hutt.

A forensic tent erected at the property. Photo: RNZ / Ceinwen Curtis

Another was a man was caught up in the aftermath of the attack while the alleged offender was making his escape, police said. The alleged offender was caught just afterwards.

A third person - a woman of unknown age - was slightly injured but did not need hospitalisation.

She was also involved in the aftermath of the attack and was understood to be a neighbour of the family that lived in the house where the incident happened.

The alleyway connecting Blueberry Grove and Norana Road - where a woman was allegedly shoved against a fence.

The alleyway connecting Blueberry Grove and Norana Road - where a woman was allegedly shoved against a fence. Photo: RNZ / Ceinwen Curtis

At a news conference this morning Detective Inspector Darrin Thomson said three of the four people involved in the axe attack were known to the accused.

He said police forensic teams were combing three crime scenes in Upper Hutt and that the woman's body remained at the scene while they continued their forensic investigation.

A neighbour of the dead woman said the woman's son appeared at her door last night holding an axe he said he had taken off the attacker.

The son then went back inside his house to discover his mother dead.

Thomson said the investigation has just begun, but the police already have enough evidence to charge Mr Nicholls.

"I can also reassure the public the community that is is not a random attack, he is known to three of the four victims."

The site of a second alleged assault - on Norana Road, Upper Hutt - is also under investigation.

The site of a second alleged assault - on Norana Road, Upper Hutt - is also under investigation. Photo: RNZ / Ceinwen Curtis