Partner charged with Kim Louise’s murder

When Waikato woman Kim Louise Richmond was buried on June 20 her partner of 26 years, Cory Scott Jefferies, did not attend her funeral.

It can now be revealed it was because he was the person standing in the dock of the Hamilton District Court charged with her murder.

At a subsequent appearance on Tuesday last week, interim name suppression lapsed and Jefferies was revealed as the person accused of Richmond’s death.

Jefferies was arrested days after Richmond’s body was discovered in her Ford Ranger which was pulled from Lake Arapuni in the South Waikato nearly a year after she went missing.

At Tuesday’s hearing his lawyer, Thomas Sutcliffe, pleaded not guilty on behalf of his client, who appealed via video link.

‘‘There were no reported sightings of her since her disappearance.’’

Family and supporters, of Jefferies and Richmond, sat in the public gallery of the court.

High Court Justice Sarah Katz remanded Jefferies until his next appearance in October, where it is expected a trial date will be set.

Jefferies has applied for bail with his case due to be heard in two weeks’ time.

Police said Richmond, a motherof-three was last seen at her home in Arohena, near Te Awamutu, in the early hours of July 31, 2016.

There were no reported sightings of her since her disappearance.