The Star: February 21, 2019

4 Thursday February 21 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
The Star
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Wilson lay in wait for victim
POLICE ARE defending the
actions of officers who stopped
convicted killer and rapist Paul
Wilson for drink driving hours
before he went on to kill again.
Two knives were found in the
boot of Wilson’s car when he was
stopped at a police checkpoint
on Bealey Ave about 10.30pm on
April 6.
After Wilson failed a breath
test, police took the knives and
the keys to the car, and he left,
taking a taxi to 27-year-old
Nicole Tuxford’s house on Exeter
St, Merivale.
Wilson, who goes by the name
Paul Pounamu Tainui, lay in wait
for eight-hours overnight, before
raping and murdering her.
He pleaded guilty to sexual
violation in the High Court
yesterday and had earlier pleaded
guilty to the life coach’s murder.
Justice Cameron Mander has
indicated a sentence date of
March 28.
In a statement, Canterbury
District Commander Superintendent
John Price said Wilson
informed police at the checkpoint
about the knives in his
vehicle.
“These knives were secured
in the vehicle’s boot and police
retained the keys so he did not
have access to them.”
He said Wilson was not in
breach of his parole conditions
when he was stopped.
“The experienced staff involved
were also satisfied with the explanation
he gave for the knives,
which was that he needed them
for work. Tainui had not come
to police attention as an offender
during the several years he had
been on parole,” Superintendent
Price said.
“Staff did not and could not
predict his intentions when he
left the checkpoint that night.”
He said his behaviour at the
checkpoint gave no cause for
concern. However, the tragedy
has had a “deep impact” on the
officers involved.
“Police are committed to
working with our justice sector
partners to identify any learnings
which might arise from this tragedy,”
Superintendent Price said.
“There is no certainty, however,
that anything could have made a
GUILTY: Nicole Tuxford’s killer has been revealed as Paul Wilson, a man previously found
guilty of the rape and murder of West Coast woman Kimberly Schroder in 1995.
difference to this tragic outcome,
given the specific circumstances
involved that night.”
The shocking news that
Wilson had committed a second
murder – 24 years after he raped
and murdered former girlfriend
Kimberly Jean Schroder in
Hokitika – was too much for Ms
Schroder’s father.
Gary Schroder, 67, died in a
suspected suicide just hours after
Wilson made his first court appearance
on April 10 last year.
“Paul Wilson now has the
blood of two young ladies on
his hands. And also the blood
of my dearly beloved [relative],”
one family member told the NZ
Herald.
Wilson was convicted and
jailed in 1995 for the rape and
murder of Ms Schroder the previous
May.
A 31-year-old sickness beneficiary
at the time, Wilson visited
Ms Schroder’s flat and tied up
her male flatmate.
When his girlfriend came
home, he cut her hands during a
confrontation, before cutting off
her jeans and raping her.
He then stabbed her in the
neck after she made comments
about relationships with other
men.
Wilson was sentenced to 15
years non-parole, although on
appeal that was reduced to 13
years.
His parole was granted on his
fifth time of asking in December
2010, with his behaviour
described as “exemplary and
faultless”.
He was released in January
2011 into a residential programme
which included at least
one year of intensive therapy.
His release conditions also
permanently banned him from
visiting the West Coast or
contacting the Schroder family,
and he is subject to the “standard
conditions” of parole for life,
which includes recall to prison if
he is deemed an “undue risk to
the safety of the community”.
Wilson, now aged 54, has spent
the last few years living and
working in Christchurch.
He had been living in a tidy
red-brick townhouse in Aranui,
the NZ Herald reported.
He left at around 6am every
weekday for his job at a scrap
metal merchants on the other
side of Christchurch.
Miss Tuxford had just embarked
on a new career as a life
coach and spiritual guide when
she was murdered.
Miss Tuxford had been training
for two years with the Phoenix
Light Foundation to become
a life coach.
Wilson was described as a
model neighbour, keeping his
place tidy and always stopping to
chat with his elderly residents.
“I’m very upset by this,” one
woman told the NZ Herald.
“I liked [the man]. He was always
friendly, chatty. He was also
a very private person.”
Another neighbour said the
man worked long hours but
would always stop and say hello.
“It’s very distressing actually,”
she said.
They say life appeared to have
been going well for Wilson.
He had a solid job, recently
bought a silver Audi, which his
neighbours all thought was “a bit
flash”.
Nicole Tuxford
But they didn’t know anything
about where he’d come from –or
his dark past.
He drank at the nearby Mc-
Kenzies Hotel on Pages Rd where
he was “just another local”.
It’s understood that Wilson,
armed with a knife, broke into
Tuxford’s house some time on
the morning of April 7.
The crime scene closely
mirrored that of the horrific
Hokitika murder years earlier,
the Herald has been told.
Fleeing in her $2000 Toyota
Corolla, Wilson was involved in
a minor traffic accident.
Police officers took his details
but he was allowed to go. There
was nothing sinister in it, it appeared.
But hours later when the Exeter
St bloodbath was discovered,
the small prang suddenly took
on a new meaning.
Police officers soon tracked
down Wilson.
He was arrested soon after and
charged the next day.
News of his arrest soon filtered
over the Southern Alps – and
back to the Schroder family who
he destroyed all those years ago.
It was all too much for Gary
Schroder.
Nancy Schroder, the mother
of Ms Schroder, told the Herald
in January 2014 that it made her
“bloody sick” to learn the killer
was out celebrating while the
family continued to grieve.
The family had strongly
opposed Wilson’s parole and
doubted his remorse.
Building consents keep up with population growth
THE NUMBER of building
consents granted for new houses
is keeping pace with a predicted
80,000 rise in Christchurch’s
population over the next 30
years.
The city’s population will rise
from about 388,000 to 468,000
by 2048, according to Statistics
New Zealand population
projections.
This means there will be
an estimated extra 52,800
households needing a place to
live.
In order to accommodate
this growth, the city council’s
monitoring and research team
has calculated at least 1700
housing consents need to be
granted each year for the next 30
years.
The number of housing
consents has slowed over the past
two years, returning
to pre-quake levels
following record highs
during the post-earthquake
construction boom.
City council data shows about
13,000 additional new dwellings
were granted consents between
2012 and 2018.
This equates to an average 2000
additional new dwellings each
year.
Monitoring and research team
leader Kath Jamieson said the
rate of consents has returned to
steady pre-quake levels but it’s
positive that it is high enough to
meet future demand.
“The current number of
new dwellings consented has
been consistent at about 2000 a
year, which is 30 per cent
higher than what’s required to
meet our District Plan housing
target of 23,700 additional
households around the city by
2028,” she said.
“It’s reassuring that we
are able to accommodate the
growing number of people
wanting to live in our city.
Construction in Christchurch
is strong and it has returned to
growth-led levels after the
boom phase of earthquake
rebuilds.”