Cop feared kidnapper would kill his victim

A senior police officer has given emotional evidence of preparing the family of slain teenager Christie Marceau for the possibility her killer might visit their home while on bail.

Marceau, 18, was fatally stabbed in her family home on the North Shore in 2011 by Akshay Chand.

‘‘Even though [Chand] was on curfew he could probably still get there before the police,’’ Detective Aaron Iremonger told an inquest into her death yesterday.

‘‘I advised [Christie’s mother] to be vigilant, and to keep the door locked and make the rest of the house secure.’’

Iremonger was the officer in charge of the initial kidnapping case against Chand, who threatened Marceau at knifepoint in 2011.

Months later Chand was bailed less than 1km from Marceau’s home, and he returned to the house to kill her. Marceau died in her mother’s arms.

Iremonger was visibly distressed and took some time to compose himself as he read his brief of evidence.

He said that after discovering Chand had been granted bail, by Judge David McNaughton in the North Shore District Court, he phoned Marceau’s mother Tracey to apologise.

’’I apologised to her for the unsatisfactory bail conditions and said that we as police did everything we could to oppose Chand’s bail.’’

Police had vehemently opposed the bail, and earlier senior prosecutor Adam Pell told the court of his efforts to ensure Chand remained in custody.

Marceau’s parents, in the public gallery of the court, cried softly as Iremonger read his evidence.

While on annual leave two weeks later Iremonger discovered Chand had murdered Marceau.

Yesterday afternoon Coroner Katharine Greig removed a suppression order previously forbidding publication of cross examination of the witnesses. The evidence of victims adviser Andrea Swager, given yesterday, can now be reported.

She recommended judges give special consideration in cases where victims come forward to voice their concerns about their safety. She said usually advisers had to encourage victims to make their voices heard, and many - particularly in cases of domestic violence - were unwilling to openly oppose bail. Judges needed to have an awareness of how important the opinion of dissenting victims were. because of their rarity, she said. ‘‘Its very, very rare to get someone like Christie, prepared to put it on paper... her letter (to Judge McNaughton) was very, very good.’’

The police prosecutor who strongly opposed Chand’s bail said he was concerned to hear Chand had reapplied for bail after an earlier attempt failed.

Pell said he vigorously opposed Chand’s release from custody after hearing Chand’s admissions to police that he wanted revenge against Marceau, who he felt had wronged him. Chand applied for bail in September 2011, which was declined, but was successful in a subsequent application in October 2011.

Pell told the inquest that at Chand’s first application for bail he, on behalf of the police, strongly opposed the application. He brought to Judge Barbara Morris’ attention the seriousness of the charges, Chand’s admissions to police that he wanted revenge on Marceau, that the motive for the offending hadn’t gone away, and Marceau’s own fears for her safety.

Pell said he had marked on his sheet that bail was declined by Judge Morris, and was concerned weeks later when Chand’s lawyer indicated another bail application would be made. Chand’s lawyer said there had been no change, and that bail hadn’t been rejected in the first place.

The confusion over whether bail had been declined or not continued well after Marceau’s death, as the Ministry of Justice failed to send a transcript of the hearing to police. The transcript was finally sent in November that year, and indicated that Judge Morris had declined bail.

Chand was later found not guilty of Marceau’s murder by reason of insanity, and is a patient at the Mason Clinic being treated for schizophrenia.