Cop urges witnesses to help despite fear
Fear may be stopping some people from revealing what they know about the violent death of a man in a carpark in Flaxmere, Hastings, according to a senior police officer.
With no arrest at the end of the first week since the body of 40-yearold Kelly Donner was found, police Eastern District crime manager Detective Inspector Mike Foster said yesterday: “We believe we are on the right track, but we believe there are people who, if they didn't witness then still know what happened, are too afraid to come in.”
He appealed to their sense of com- munity to help in the investigation.
The death happened in the heart of the community; Donner was found in the carpark of the Flax Bar and Eatery in Swansea Rd, adjacent to the Flaxmere Village Shopping Centre, the bar historically known as the Flaxmere Tavern.
It is operated by Trust House but owned by the community through the Flaxmere Licensing Trust, which was established in 1975 to run licensed facilities in the area on behalf of its people.
Foster reaffirmed yesterday, however, that the tavern was not linked to the inquiry other than the location of the body in the carpark, where Donner was found with multiple injuries about 10.45pm on March 4, about 1 hour and 45 minutes after the tavern closed for the night.
Donner usually slept in the vicinity and it was not thought he had been in the tavern that night. Nor was Donner thought to have been in the carpark at the time staff and patrons left.
Foster said the victim was known as a rough-sleeper but he was not doing anybody any harm.
— Hawkes Bay Today