Crimes NZ

From Black Sheep: In 1892 a masked figure in a bizarre uniform began a 15 month crime spree, robbing people at gunpoint in and around New Plymouth. When he was finally arrested and unmasked, residents were dumbfounded to discovered the perpetrator was mild-mannered Robert Wallath - the teenage son of a local farmer and carpenter. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A suitcase was found floating in the Waitematā Harbour in 1966. Its contents kicked off an international manhunt and one of Aotearoa's biggest fraudsters. Joseph Sheehan BEM was a detective on the case. In 1966, the captain of the Salvation Army barge was heading up the Waitematā Harbour when he spotted a mysterious suitcase floating in the water. He fished it out and discovered documents from the...

Michael Blowers was a police officer, family man and pillar of the community. He was also stealing drugs from the police exhibit room and giving them to his mistress to sell. RNZ's Charlie Dreaver describes Blowers downfall. In 2014, former police detective Michael Blowers was sent to prison for five years on a raft of drug-related offences. For years he had been stealing drugs from the Whangarei...

True crime writer Scott Bainbridge takes us through the unsolved murder of pharmacist Arthur Blomfield, who was bludgeoned to death in his Auckland store, Mackay's Dispensary, in 1931. In 1931, just before closing time, pharmacist Arthur Blomfield was bludgeoned to death at the back of Mackay's dispensary on Wellesley Street in central Auckland. His killer has never been found. True crime aut...

Alan Hall spent nearly two decades in jail for the 1985 murder of Arthur Easton. In 2022 his convictions were quashed. Stuff journalist Mike White explains the flaws in the case against Hall and Geoff Hall talks about his brother's life after prison. In 1985, Arthur Easton was murdered by a bayonet wielding intruder, in his Papakura home. His two sons were also injured trying to fight off the atta...

Stuff's senior crime reporter tells Jesse Mulligan about his ongoing hunt for one of Aotearoa's most prolific conmen. For two decades Wayne Eaglesome has committed hundreds of crimes across the country. He has used 40 different aliases and has been convicted of 250 offences, for both fraud and sexual crimes. Stuff senior crime reporter Sam Sherwood came across Eaglesome several years ago and has f...

In this episode we hear about one of our country's most sensational trials - that of headhunters gang member Pedro Cleven. Through the late 90s and into the early 2000s police ran operation Mexico in a strike a blow at the Headhunters gang. They nabbed Peter 'Pedro' Cleven on cannabis and methamphetamine charges and what followed as a trial like no other. Patrick Gower talks to Jesse Mul...

It was a case that shocked the world. A 3-year-old abandoned in an Australian train station, her mother murdered in New Zealand and her father on the run in America. In September 2007 a three-year-old girl was found abandoned at Melbourne's Southern Cross railway station. Initially authorities were unable to verify her identity, so they gave her the nickname "Pumpkin" after the Pump...

In January 2008, Gil Elliott received the worst news possible. His 22-year-old daughter Sophie had been stabbed to death. He talks to Jesse Mulligan about those moments, the horror that followed and his fight for change. In 2008, Sophie Elliot was stabbed to death by her former partner, Clayton Weatherston. Since her death, her family have been tirelessly campaigning for changes to prevent another...

The 1928 murder of Elsie Walker is one of New Zealand's oldest cold cases. She disappeared from the Bay of Plenty and her body was discovered by schoolboys, days later, in Auckland. Elsie Walker went missing from the Bay of Plenty and was found dead in Auckland days later. She was discovered by some young boys and was still wearing her maid's uniform. Crime author, Scott Bainbridge wrote abou...

In 2009, Taito Phillip Field was convicted of bribery and corruption and sentenced to six years in prison. Lockwood Smith was an opposition MP and recalls keeping the pressure on in parliament, to ensure Field was held to account. Taito Phillip Field was a minister in the Labour government when he was accused of using his position for personal gain. The Right Honourable Sir Lockwood Smith was Oppo...

In 2007, 20-year-old Emma Agnew put a sign up in her car advertising it for sale. A man answered the ad, but he wasn't interested in buying the car. As Stuff senior reporter Martin Van Beynan describes his intentions were far more sinister. 20-year-old Emma Agnew disappeared in November 2007. Emma and her entire immediate family were deaf and well-known within New Zealand's deaf community. Th...

Emma Ferris loaned $300,000 to her boyfriend only to discover he was conning her. In this episode of Crimes NZ, Emma describes the battle for her life-savings and her future. In 2018 Emma Ferris began relationship with Andrew Thomson, an entrepreneur with colourful stories about his past and future ventures. Emma loaned a large sum to the conman believing it was destined for legitimate investment....

In 1886 the bustling town of Timaru was stunned when society darling Thomas Hall was arrested for the attempted murder of his wife, Kitty. Author Peter Graham outlines one of the most sensational cases of 19th century New Zealand. In 1886, as he sentenced Thomas Hall to life in prison for the attempted poisoning of his wife Kitty Hall, the presiding judge said: "You have achieved in the annal...

David Bain spent 13 years in prison after being found guilty of killing his family in 1994 - however he always maintained his innocence and he was acquitted in a retrial in 2009. On the 24th of June, 1994, Robin (58) and Margaret Bain (50) and three of their children, Arawa (19), Laniet (18) and Stephen (14), were found dead in their Dunedin home. Four days later, the only surviving family member...

The presiding judge described the death of Delcelia Witika as one of the most disturbing cases of child abuse to come before the High Court. David Mcloughlin covered the case. Delcelia Witika's mother and stepfather were both were sentenced to 16 years in jail, for her manslaughter. A judge described this case as the most disturbing to come before the High Court. Delcelia was just two years o...

In November 1990, thirteen people were shot and killed in the seaside village of Aramoana. Tim Ashton was a member of the anti-terrorism squad that was sent in to stop the gunman. Thirty-three year-old David Gray began shooting after a confrontation with one of his neighbours over a dog. By the end of his rampage, 13 people were dead and several others were injured. The police's anti-terroris...

David Ross was jailed in 2013 for running a ponzi scheme that resulted in thousands of New Zealand investors losing millions of dollars. David Ross, the former director of the failed company Ross Asset Management, was jailed in November 2013 for 10 years and 10 months, with a minimum non-parole period of half that time. The ponzi scheme he'd been running collapsed in 2012, owing investors $11...

In 1987, pig hunters stumbled upon the body of Robert Gawith kicking off a murder inquiry with links to the infamous Mr Asia drug syndicate. It was a case that sparked headlines like 'NZ's Bonnie and Clyde' or 'Lawless Lovers' when it was discovered that a couple with links to the Mr Asia crime syndicate were behind the murder of 23 year-old Robert Gawith. Robert Gawith wa...

In the early hours of July 8, 2010, Scott Guy was gunned down at his farm gate. Police suspected his brother-in-law, but he was found not-guilty and no one else has been held accountable for the killing. Thirty-one year old Scott Guy was on his way to work, it was just a regular day, when he was murdered in his driveway. He had no known enemies and there were very few clues to point to who might h...

In 1960, police discovered the body of a man in a central Auckland apartment, but it is the disappearance of his wife, Cynthia Grierson Jackson that has baffled police for more than half a decade. Neighbours describe one night where there were loud voices coming from the apartment of Cynthia Grierson Jackson and her husband, Michael. Otherwise, there was nothing to suggest the grisly scene police...

Six people were killed and four injured when Stephen Anderson took his father's shotgun and went on a rampage in the sleepy North Island settlement of Raurimu, in 1997. Michael Morrah interviewed Anderson and tells his story. When Stephen Anderson saw his parents and their friends eating breakfast at the family bach in Raurimu, he became convinced they were part of a conspiracy to end the world. H...

In the winter of 1954, two schoolgirls - Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme - murdered Pauline's mother on a remote walking track in Christchurch. Author Peter Graham recounts the events leading to Honora Parker's death. On June 22,1954, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker went for tea and a walk at Victoria Park in Christchurch's Port Hills with Pauline's mother, Honorah Parker. It was there,...

Barrister Simon Shamy describes the tragic murder of Ruby Knox. He represented Donella Knox who admitted killing her daughter. In May 2016, Donella Knox sedated and then smothered her 21-year-old daughter, Ruby. She was sent to jail for four years. Donella had been the sole carer for her daughter Ruby for 20 years. Ruby was severely autistic and intellectually disabled. She could not speak, was vi...

On New Years Eve, 1976, 36-year-old Heidi Charles vanished without a trace. True crime writer Scott Bainbridge explains how this baffling case has been mixed up with other high-profile disappearances. On New Years' Eve 1976, 36-year-old Heidi Charles was dropped off in central Rotorua to do some shopping. She arranged to meet her husband, Robert, and two sons an hour later at Fenton Park. But...