Helpless to act – sister watches brother die
Leah Hallmond won’t easily forget the feeling of watching her brother die on the cold concrete of a Waikato street.
Knowing that something sinister may have led to Anthony Robert Hallmond’s death is even more sickening, she says.
‘‘Everyone got along with him – he’d give someone his last five bucks if he had it. He doesn’t deserve this.’’
Hallmond, or Skid as he was known around the King Country streets, died on the footpath outside a North St house in central Te Awamutu on Sunday night.
Police are treating his death as a homicide and say an altercation took place outside the property around 6.45pm before the 35-year-old died.
Paramedics worked for more than 30 minutes trying to revive Skid, who is the father of an 11-year-old girl.
‘‘He was just lying there on the cold concrete, lifeless,’’ his 26-year-old sister said as she recalled watching as CPR was performed on her brother on the street. ‘‘It’s just wrong and bizarre.’’
Hallmond was at her home next door to her mother’s place in Pirongia on Sunday evening when she got the hysterical call from her brother’s friend, who’d arrived at North St to pick him up.
‘‘I got mum and we drove in straight away. We got there around 7.15pm and they had already been working on him for 40 minutes and he was in full cardiac arrest.’’
Hugging her mother next to a police officer guarding the scene, all Leah Hallmond could do was watch.
‘‘We thought maybe he would be taken away in the ambulance to hospital and it would be fine.’’
‘‘He was lying there with 10 ambulance staff giving him oxygen and CPR, and he was lifeless already.’’
Skid had only just stopped by her place earlier that day looking for some spare change for gas.
He was living in Te Pahu but liked to float around, she said. He’d hitch a ride whenever he could. He didn’t have a car or driver’s licence of his own.
‘‘He was just a harmless floater, he’d cruise around, roaming the streets of Te Awamutu. He was pretty genuine to everyone.’’
From what Hallmond understood, her brother had phoned a friend for a ride on Sunday evening and by the time she arrived, Skid was on the ground.
‘‘We think it was about 10 minutes. They pulled into the driveway and there was a guy outside the house, and they asked, ‘Have you seen Skid?’
‘‘He pointed to Skid on the ground, he wasn’t breathing.’’
Detective Senior Sergeant Nigel Keall said a post-mortem was completed in Auckland yesterday and police were continuing to treat the death as a homicide.
‘‘At this stage we’re aware there has been an altercation and that’s what we are looking at.’’
He said the investigation was ‘‘progressing well’’ and police had been in contact with Hallmond’s family.
Hallmond grew up around the King Country and attended Otorohanga College. He earned the nickname Skid after taking a tumble off his bike and grazing his face when he was 10 or 11, Leah Hallmond said.
‘‘We’ll miss everything . . . his bubbly, witty sense of humour. He always thought he was funny. He was never out to get anyone or be violent.’’
But Skid was no saint, his sister said, he’d been in and out of jail since he was 20 years old.
‘‘He’s just a harmless solo cruiser, an easygoing guy who would never do anything to hurt anyone.’’
To Hallmond and her three other siblings, Anthony was a brother and son, uncle to many and father of one. Funeral plans were under way. Any witnesses to what happened, or anyone with any information, should contact Te Awamutu Police on 07 8720100, or Crimestoppers, anonymously if necessary, on 0800 555 111.