Unlock our torture - Tolley’s family
The family of murdered Upper Hutt woman Lois Tolley have made an emotional plea to the community to come forward with any information they may have about her murder.
Cathrine Macdonald, Lois Tolley’s mother, was shaking and holding back tears at a press conference held at Upper Hutt police station yesterday morning.
She started to read from a prepared statement: ‘‘Lois and our family were so excited and looking forward to Christmas. It was going to be our first family Christmas together in a while. She was taken away from us.’’
Too upset to continue reading, she then handed over the statement to Lois’ aunt, Lorraine Duffin: ‘‘To the people who did this,’’ Duffin continued, ‘‘you have been able to spend Christmas with your loved ones.’’
‘‘Think about what it has been like for us.
‘‘It has been our worst nightmare and Christmas will never be the same again,’’ Duffin said. ‘‘Lois was Cathrine’s daughter. ‘‘From one mother to four mothers out there, and [to] these people’s family and friends, I am pleading to you, if you have any information, however small, or if you have noticed a change with a member of your family, and think they may have something to do with this, please, please come forward and speak to the police.
‘‘You hold the key to unlock our torture and we are calling on your conscience to help us get some closure and bring these cowards to justice.
‘‘We have all gone through hell these past few weeks.
‘‘If we can get some answers, anything at all, it may help us to try to understand why this happened to our beautiful Lois.
‘‘To the people who did this I want you to know that our family have received information that could only have come from the people who were there at Lois’ on
''From one mother to four mothers out there, and [to] these people's family and friends, I am pleading to you, if you have any information, however small, or if you have noticed a change with a member of your family, and think they may have something to do with this, please, please come forward and speak to the police.'' Lorraine Duffin, aunt of Lois Tolley
that Friday night, and we have passed that on to the police.’’
Tolley, who was 30 when she died, was the victim of a ‘‘brutal, horrific execution-style’’ killing, police said – she was shot at pointblank range and stabbed, at her home late on December 9.
Operation Archer investigation lead Glenn Barnett said: ‘‘Here’s your chance to help this family and to help the police and to end this by coming forward. Now’s your chance to come forward with the information you hold.’’
He said police had a large team working through the Christmas and New Year period.
‘‘If you’ve played a minor role, come forward and talk to us in confidence.’’
Barnett said police were ‘‘openminded’’ on the motive.
Investigators had not yet found a weapon and were still searching for a firearm and knife.
Police had earlier appealed for four men seen running from her house to come forward.
Aside from interviews, Barnett said staff were continuing to review ‘‘hours of CCTV footage from around the Hutt Valley’’.
This included footage near Lois’ home.
‘‘The footage we have reviewed so far is helping us to reconstruct the events of the night Lois was killed,’’ Barnett said. – Fairfax NZ