woman murdered rescuing a kitty....

[carole]

This is so sad, a volunteer worker for the cats protection league, got a phone call, a man saying if she did not come and rescue this cat at the place where he lived, he would knock it on the head.

The 52 yr old woman went out to rescue the cat, she never came back, they found her body dumped some way away from the area she was at,can you believe some moron would do such a thing, a kind hearted woman only doing a good deed and this is what happens, and yes this happened here in NZ,so disgusting, they have not arrested anyone yet, but obviously they are questioning the man who rang her.

Please spare a thought for her poor family, such a tragedy.

[kitten645]

Moron isn't the word really. It's premeditated first degree murder. Probably a serial killer and likely animal abuser. He'll get his one way or another
Claudia

[carole]

Yes words fail me to say what i really think of this excuse for a human being, i sure hope they catch him and put him away for a very long time.

[Karen]

How horrible! I am surprised they didn't send a police officer with her ...

[Kirsten]

Terrible!! Her love for kitties and her gentle heart led her straight to her death, it's truly heartbreaking.

How very sick some specimen of the human race are! I'm truly disgusted by that and hope they'll arrest him soon!!

Kirsten

[carole]

Sadly Karen we just don't have the resources to send a police officer with her to collect a cat, we are stretched as it is,it would not been seen important enough, these days you are lucky if you get them to come and see you for a day or two should you be robbed,the sign of the times, too busy.

Also i think the woman would have not thought it necessary either, just a routine pick up of a kitty, although she did venture out when it was dark,not good, most of them don't do that, she should have taken someone with her,but i guess she just did not think about her own personal safety ,just that of the kitty's,poor kind hearted soul.

[Kirsten]

but i guess she just did not think about her own personal safety ,just that of the kitty's,poor kind hearted soul.

Too heartbreaking to even think about it!

Her family will be in my thoughts tonight...

Kirsten

[pomtzu]

TRAGIC!!! No other way to describe it.

[moosmom]

You just never know who you're dealing with.

[kt_luvs_kitties]

VERY SAD. RIP kind lady...

What is more disturbing is that I have and would do this again... Next time I will bring along someone with me. I hope she did not die in vain....

And, may the killer rot in hell. I believe he will

[G535]

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411365/2023069

[Catty1]

I would think they found out, from neighbours too, if this guy even HAD a cat to begin with.

I'm sure they will arrest someone soon.

RIP, poor lady.


ETA: Man held over cat lover's death
Aug 20, 2008 6:23 PM

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/423466/2018369

Police are questioning a man over the death of a 52-year-old Christchurch woman who disappeared when she went out to rescue a cat.

The disappearance of Kerry Downey began as a missing person case but is now a murder inquiry.

Cats had a special place in Downey's life. She had devoted her time to rescue them and her work colleagues say she was doing just when she disappeared about 7pm Monday in the Riccarton Road and Ilam Road vicinity.

"The person rang our office and said that they had a stray cat. It was more of a young cat, probably seven months or under, and they were going to hit it on the head if we didn't come and pick it up. So that's why Kerry went," says Suzanne Heenan of the Cats' Protection League.

Just what happened at the block of flats is unclear but it's now a crime scene with forensic staff working the area.

"Nobody likes the idea of this kind of thing going on, and it's always heart warming to feel you know the feeling from the public when we're investigating this sort of crime," says Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Wormald of Christchurch police.

Heenan says Downey wouldn't have hurt a fly.

"And we knew something was wrong when she didn't come home that night to fed her cats."

It was a walker out early Wednesday morning who found the 52-year old's body off a remote road in the Port Hills.

"Something really nasty's happened and we call on the public to help you know putting away whoever is responsible," says Wormald.

Police are appealing for sightings of her red 2001 Suzuki Alto hatchback, found dumped in the suburb of Barrington early Wednesday morning.

"People acting under stress may behave in funny ways when they're driving cars and that's why we ask if anyone's seen a car such as that acting in some way that's not normal," says Wormald.

The car was last seen in the vicinity of 281 Riccarton Road.

"I also pick cats up and this has made me have a very big think. But I don't pick my cats up at night. Kerry went out at twilight," says Heenan.

And what's saddest, she says, is that a kind woman lost her life trying to do a kind deed.

[Miss Z]

That's horrendous. To prey on a kind soul like that is so deeply sickening.

RIP lady.

[Catty1]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4676687a11.html


Bail bid refused for murder accused
Monday, 01 September 2008
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BAIL DENIED: Ashley Peach, accused of the murder of Kerry Leigh Downey, appears in Christchurch District Court this morning.

A bid for release on electronically monitored bail by murder accused Ashley Donald Peach was refused by Judge John Strettell in Christchurch District Court today.

At the request of crown prosecutor Brent Stanaway, details of the discussion at the bail hearing were suppressed when 41-year-old Peach was remanded in custody to September 8.

He is accused of the murder of Kerry Leigh Downey, 52, who disappeared on August 18 while on a cat rescue call-out in Upper Riccarton.

Her body was later found on the Port Hills by an early morning walker.

Peach is also charged with the theft of a Cats Protection League cat cage.

- NZPA


Further remand for cat rescue worker murder accused
NZPA | Monday, 08 September 2008

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4685393a12855.html

A Christchurch man accused of murdering cat rescue worker Kerry Leigh Downey three weeks ago was remanded for a pre-depositions conference next week when he appeared in Christchurch District Court today.

Ashley Donald Peach, aged 41, from Upper Riccarton, has entered no plea to murder and a charge he originally faced of stealing a Cats' Protection League cat cage worth $50, the Christchurch Court News website reported.

Defence counsel David Stringer said he had not yet received any substantial disclosure from police of paperwork relating to evidence in the case.

He hoped this would be made available to him before the pre-depositions conference on September 18.

It is possible that a date for depositions will be set at that hearing.

Miss Downey, 52, was out on cat rescue work when she disappeared on August 18 and her body was later found by a walker on the Port Hills.

Her car was left abandoned in Neville Street, Spreydon.

Judge Raoul Neave continued a suppression order preventing publication of the details of discussions at a bail application made a week ago by Peach.

[carole]

Thanks for posting that Candace, glad they got the creep, i just hope he gets a good lengthy sentence with no parole.