Murder victim sought help following attack
Mother-of-two Joanne Marie Pert has been remembered as a kind and caring person who was ‘‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’’ when she was murdered on an Auckland street.
Pert, 41, was killed while jogging in the suburb of Remuera on Thursday morning.
She was a really nice and generous person and extremely intelligent, former teacher Rona Wang said.
‘‘It’s so sad to hear this news,’’ she said. ‘‘She was very, very kind.’’
Wang, who now lives in Sydney, taught Pert at the New Zealand School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine in Auckland.
‘‘She was really good, really smart. She has two children. I still remember her daughter.
‘‘She’s a very good mother, always talks to me of how she was cooking for the children,’’ Wang said.
Pert’s name has been released after initially being suppressed by Judge Claire Ryan, who presided over the first appearance of the man accused of murdering Pert when he appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday.
The judge wanted to give Pert’s family time to be notified and for her father Kevin Pert to fly to Auckland from the family home in Whanganui.
Joanne Pert’s daughter Molly had just celebrated her sixth birthday.
Molly and brother Harry, 7, had also just spent 10 days holidaying with their mother and grandfather, Kevin Pert, in Taupo over the Christmas period.
On Thursday night Kevin Pert received the phone call every parent dreads.
‘‘She was a fantastic mother. She was also a great sportsperson and superqualified. She was an accountant and had a medical degree.’’
He said his daughter was out on one of her regular runs when she was attacked in Remuera.
Police say a man attacked her with a weapon and she appeared to have been able to make it to the front yard of a Shore Rd property desperate to get help, but died and was found there later by the elderly homeowners who phoned for help.
‘‘She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,’’ Kevin Pert said.
He said his daughter was a keen runner and swimmer, and would often run long distances from her inner-city apartment. In the past she had competed in the Auckland half marathon.
She was attacked near a popular exercise route about six kilometres from her home.
The man charged received interim name suppression yesterday.
Detective Inspector Kevin Hooper said the homicide investigation team still had much work to do piecing together the events leading up to and following Pert’s death. ‘‘Our sympathies are obviously with Joanne’s family and friends and we are committed to making every effort to ensure a robust prosecution is achieved.’’
Several other inquiries weeks to complete.
‘‘We are relieved that we are able to reassure members of the community that the alleged offender acted alone and is remanded in custody.’’
Hooper said the 24-year-old murder accused was remanded in custody to appear again on January 27. He was ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment and was granted interim name suppression.
Police had said the man walked into the Auckland central police station just hours after the attack and handed over a weapon.
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