Killed teen’s family ‘on show’
Lisa Rush is often too afraid to leave her home because of the stares from strangers.
Life for her family changed forever on the morning of February 3. She went to wake her daughter, Amber-Rose, for work and noticed some blood.
Initially she thought the 16-year-old had a nose bleed, but when she didn’t move ‘‘I knew it was worse than that’’.
A 30-year old man, who has name suppression, has been charged with her murder.
‘‘I just screamed,’’ Rush said. ‘‘Could anyone imagine finding their child like that?’’
Amber-Rose and her mum had gone shopping together the night before she died.
At 10.30pm, Rush told her daughter she loved her and kissed her goodnight.
The loss of her youngest child, who she described as her best friend, had ‘‘shattered our family’’.
The family have already moved from their Corstorphine home, where Amber-Rose’s body was found, and now fear they will have to leave Dunedin altogether.
‘‘We can’t even stay in Dunedin. We can’t ... we just can’t.’’
She struggled to leave the house as the family were often stared at. ‘‘It feels like we are on show. ‘‘It would be nice if a person said ‘I’m sorry’ rather than just staring.’’
The family were also hit hard by online trolls making remarks about the case and their daughter.
Suggestions Amber-Rose was in a relationship with the man charged with her murder, or that she was left alone the night she died, were incorrect.
‘‘Some people have been commenting the most ridiculous stuff that is so far from the truth,’’ Rush said.
‘‘I hate people thinking these things of Amber.’’
Rush cannot bring herself to say the name of the man accused of murdering her daughter – and publicly she cannot as he lodged an appeal earlier this month to keep his name from being published.
The man faces four charges of threatening to kill and a new charge – the details of which have been suppressed.
‘‘Our names are everywhere and he gets suppression, how is that fair?’’ Rush said.
She was yet to attend a court appearance, as she could not trust herself to be silent.
The family felt overwhelmed by the man’s not guilty plea and the prospect of a lengthy trial – set down for March 18, 2019.
‘‘I don’t know if I can sit there and look at him. It is not like we haven’t been through enough.’’
One thing that encouraged them was the thought of what their daughter would want.
‘‘If it was one of us she would be here screaming, making sure everyone knew.’’
While the close-knit family were introverts, Amber-Rose was anything but.
The supermarket worker – who aspired to be a police dog handler – loved her family, art and going to the beach.
Known to family as ‘‘Ambie Angel’’, the teen often spent her pay packet on her family, especially her nephew and niece, who she adored.
‘‘She was completely selfless,’’ her mother said.
Amber-Rose left school a year ago after some problems with cyberbullying, but ‘‘made peace’’ with her former tormentors.
‘‘She was loving life. I can’t described how missed she is.’’
At times Lisa Rush, 40, felt she was ‘‘living someone else’s life . . . it is overwhelming’’.
There were angry scenes in the Dunedin District Court after the man was charged with murdering Amber-Rose.
Rush said compounding the loss for the family was being unable to see Amber’s body for a week.
‘‘Nobody should have to say goodbye to their child.’’
Rush praised the work of police and everyone around New Zealand who offered support.
She wanted her daughter remembered for who she was.
‘‘She is and always will be the most amazing girl ... she didn’t do anything to deserve any of this.
‘‘I can’t describe the hole it has left since she has gone.’’