Grieving son tells of tense wait at cordon after death
‘Everyone else knew before I did’, says man after mum dies in ‘horrific’ Mt Roskill incident
The son of a slain Mt Roskill woman says he was kept in the dark about how she died as he waited anxiously for news about his mother at a police cordon.
“Everyone else knew before I did,” Deon Johnson-Hadley said outside the High Court at Auckland yesterday morning.
He spoke to media after the man accused of murdering Tania Hadley was identified for the first time.
Damien Charles Chandler appeared via video link from jail, charged with murdering Hadley, who died last week after being found with critical injuries on May Rd in Mt Roskill.
The 29-year-old accused’s interim name suppression lapsed yesterday. He is yet to enter a plea.
Auckland’s Crown Solicitor Brian Dickey told the court much of the incident had been filmed on security cameras.
Justice Sally Fitzgerald remanded
Chandler in custody until another hearing in three weeks.
A trial date was also pencilled in for June next year.
Johnson-Hadley said that his mum was hard-working, caring and worked as a team leader for a courier company.
“She was a magnet for people, people thrived off her energy,” he said, but added his mum was also a private person.
“The way that she went was very, very horrific.”
He said police forced him to stand at a cordon for an hour and a half before getting any information about what might have happened.
“It was absolutely horrific knowing that something had happened to my mum.”
When he finally learned his mum was a victim of a homicide he felt “very angry”.
“She did not deserve to die the way she did . . . I’m at a loss for words. “My family is absolutely distraught.”
He said he didn’t recognise the accused killer until he heard the name. Chandler and his girlfriend were boarders at Hadley’s home, Johnson-Hadley said. A charging document viewed by the Herald lists Chandler’s address as that of Hadley’s house.
“My mum helped these people out . . . they had nowhere to go, she cooked for them, she cleaned for them. She felt sorry for these people.” He said Chandler and his girlfriend had been staying at his mum’s house for at least eight months. Johnson-Hadley said he is still waiting for answers as to exactly how his mum died.
“It makes me very angry.”