Partner’s last ditch letter
Cory Jefferies wrote a letter to Kim Richmond in a last ditch effort to repair their relationship, a court has heard.
‘‘Dear Kim, I’m so sorry for what I have done, the way I have treated you ... Sometimes I am a dickhead and I don’t know what to do. I would like us to try again ... I don’t want to lose you and the kids.’’
The letter was written by Jefferies in July 2016 – the month Richmond disappeared – and was read at the High Court at Hamilton as Jefferies faced trial for her murder.
Richmond’s body was found in a ute pulled from Lake Arapuni in the South Waikato nearly a year later.
Her friend, Barbara Cottingham, told the court Richmond had shown her the letter during a night away in Kinloch. Richmond called off the relationship with Jefferies earlier that month.
On the second day of the trial the court heard from several witnessess, including Richmond’s mother, Raywynne Richmond, the man Richmond had an affair with, Alfons Te Brake, his wife Heather Te Brake, and Richmond’s friend, Barbara Cottingham.
Jefferies confronted Te Brake and told him to leave Richmond alone. Te Brake responded that he was trying but, ‘‘it’s up to you to take care of her.’’
The tense exchange was one of many Jefferies had with neighbour Te Brake over the love triangle involving Jefferies’ partner of 26 years, in the small Waikato township of Arohena.
Raywynne Richmond told the court Jefferies texted her on August 1, 2016.
‘‘I got a text from Cory and he asked if I had seen Kim. I thought that was a silly thing to say.’’
When she hadn’t heard from her daughter by 3pm that afternoon, Raywynne Richmond filed a missing person report at the local police station.
She told the police officer that she didn’t believe her daughter was missing, that she would ‘‘never go away’’.
Raywynne Richmond, her partner, and her younger daughter, then drove to Arohena to find out what was going on. When they arrived in Arohena, they found Jefferies asleep on the couch. When questioned, he said Richmond took off after the rugby game the night before and never came home. Raywynne Richmond told the court about an earlier conversation she had with Jefferies, in January 2016.
‘‘[Jefferies] had words with Kim, he believed she was having an affair.’’
Richmond denied the affair to her mother and showed her the bruises down the side of body, allegedly from Jefferies pushing her down the stairs.
Raywynne Richmond recounted another conversation she had with her daughter, where she asked how Jefferies was.
‘‘That’s the trouble, Mum, everyone think’s he’s so f----- wonderful.’’
CONFRONTATION
Alfons Te Brake, Richmond and Jefferies’ neighbour, told the court he had tried hard ‘‘not to have an affair’’ with Richmond.
Te Brake said he realised in November 2015 that the relationship between him and Richmond became more ‘‘romantic’’.
The pair shared similar interests, such as sports, Te Brake said.
He admitted the pair had kissed and cuddled on a number of occasions but when confronted by Jefferies, Te Brake denied this.
There were several confrontations between Jefferies and Te Brake. Jefferies wanted Te Brake to ‘‘leave Kim alone’’.
‘‘I said I’m trying my hardest not to have an affair with your wife ... it’s up to you to take care of her.’’ Te Brake also told the court that Jefferies told him he wanted Kim ‘‘gone’’ and that he wanted to ‘‘kill her’’, or words to that effect.
On July 8, 2016, Jefferies drove to Te Brake’s property.
‘‘He was very angry, he shut the door to his ute very hard,’’ Te Brake said.
‘‘He said, ‘Look what the f--you’ve done now you prick’.
‘‘I asked him what is going on, he said, ‘Well you f----- it up now. We broke up last night’.’’
Jefferies told Te Brake he had pictures that were taken by ‘‘Neville the bus driver’’.
‘‘We had been talking on the side of the road and Neville saw us driving past. He said he had pictures of us kissing cuddling on the side of the road.’’
The court also heard from Te Brake’s wife, Heather Te Brake.
She told the court when she first heard of the affair, from Jefferies, she didn’t believe it.
But soon after, she became suspicious.
On one occasion, Jefferies told Heather Te Brake she saw Richmond sitting on her husband’s knee at the back of the bus on the way home from a sporting event.
She waited until she, Alfons, Richmond and Jefferies, left the bus and got into the car to continue the journey back to Arohena before she confronted the pair.
The pair denied the affair. On another occasion, she read a text from Richmond to Alfons Te Brake, which read, ‘‘I saw you’’.
Heather Te Brake confronted Richmond and then told her she was not welcome at her home.
Crown prosecutor Ross Douch said Jefferies became aware of the affair in 2015 and confronted Richmond’s love interest on at least two occasions.
‘‘That clearly troubled him,’’ Douch said.
‘‘The community as a whole were aware of it ... there was talk of it.’’
On July 30, 2016, Jefferies and Richmond were at the local community hall watching a rugby game with friends, the court heard.
The couple left in the early hours of July 31 but during the seven minute ride home something happened to cause Richmond’s death.
The inevitable conclusion, Douch said, was that Richmond ended up in Lake Arapuni in the back seat of their silver Ford Ranger utility.
And that Jefferies walked home. During the police investigation, information from Richmond’s Fitbit device recorded an elevated heart beat on the morning of July 31.
‘‘The heart rate settled until the Fitbit stops recording the heartbeat about 3.43am,’’ Douch said.
Douch said one theory was that the Fitbit device was detached, another theory is that her heart stopped.
The mystery behind Richmond’s disappearance and her death will be examined during the week-long trial before Justice Sally Fitzgerald.
MURDER V MANSLAUGHTER
Jefferies lawyer, Thomas Sutcliffe, said his client accepts responsibility for Richmond’s death.
‘‘Mr Jefferies accepts that the relationship had been going through some difficult times. On the seven minute drive home, something happened between them resulted in the death of Kim Richmond.
‘‘Whatever it was, it resulted in the death of Kim Richmond. The main question is, what was Cory Jefferies meaning to do in the wee hours of that morning. Did he mean to kill Kim Richmond?
‘‘What was his intention? Because he is responsible does not mean that he meant to cause her death.’’
The jury of seven women and five men was selected on Monday. Family and supporters of Jefferies and Richmond sat in the public gallery of the court.
Richmond’s disappearance was the subject of an extensive police investigation and two searches of Lake Arapuni. There were no reported sightings of Richmond after her disappearance in 2016. Her bank cards were found on the roadside in the central North Island a few months later. Her bank accounts and phone went untouched.
Police scoured Lake Arapuni in 2016 for her vehicle, but were unsuccessful. The police national dive squad returned in 2017 to search again. This time, they found Richmond in her silver 2014 Ford Ranger. The ute was 6 metres beneath the surface.
It was recovered on the second day of the search.