NEW ZEALAND’S WORST SERIAL KILLERS

Article BY SKYE ANDREWS

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Minnie DEAN

Serial Killer/Murderer
Number of Victims: 2-3
Date of murders: 1889-1895
Date of Birth: 1844
Location: East Winton
Method: Suffocation – Poisoning (laudanum overdose)
Victims: Dorothy Edith Carter (one year old)
Eva Hornsby (one month old)

In 1895 a railway guard saw Dean board a train carrying a young baby and a hatbox; on the return trip she only had a hatbox. After searching along the tracks with no luck police searched and unearthed from the Deans garden the recently buried bodies of two babies – identified as Eva Hornsby and Dorothy Carter – and the skeleton of an older boy (who Dean later claimed had drowned). Dorothy Carter had died of an overdose of the opiate laudanum, commonly used to calm irritable infants and Eva Hornsby died of suffocation. Despite the defence that all the deaths were accidental, Minnie Dean was found guilty of the murder of Dorothy Carter.

Although she had claimed to have cared for 28 children of these 5 were in good health when her establishment was raided, 6 had died whilst under her care and 1 had been reclaimed by her parents. Apart from her two adopted daughters that left 14 or so children unaccounted for, according to her own record.

A couple of good things did come out of it, her crimes led to the belated passage of child welfare legislation in New Zealand - the Infant Life Protection Act 1893 and the Infant Protection Act 1896

The definition of serial killer is traditionally a person who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time or cooling off period between murders.
Some sources, such as FBI define the term as a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events usually but not always by one offender acting alone.

Depending on which definition you use Minnie Dean is either just another murderer or she is New Zealand’s only serial killer. Despite which definition you use Minnie Dean has become part of folklore, she has had songs written about her and parents use her name to scare their children into being good.

Dean was hanged at Invercargill gaol on 12 August 1895, earning the dubious honour of being the only women ever executed in New Zealand

 

Brian SCHLAEPHER

Mass Murderer (Parricide)
Number of Victims: 6
Date of murders: May 19, 1992
Date of Birth: 1928
Location: Auckland
Method: Stabbing with knife - Shooting
Victims: Jocelyn Marie (55)
Peter Wayne (39)
Karl Pervical (33)
Darrell Bryan (31)
Hazel Jean (42)
Aaron (11)
After having an argument with his wife SCHLAEPHER shot or stabbed six members of his family.
He committed suicide by shooting himself the same day

 

Raymond RATIMA

Mass Murderer (Parricide)
Number of Victims: 7
Date of Murders: June 26, 1992
Date of Birth: 1967
Location: Masterton
Method: Bludgeoned and Stabbed
Victims: Nicola Ferguson
Bevan Tepu
Stephen (2)
Phillip Furguson
Piripi (6)
Barney (4)
Stacey (2)

A man driven by despair and poverty sought retribution from his family by murdering seven people including his children before being overpowered.

He was sentenced to life in prison in August 1992.

Parricide is where all members of a family are killed including when the killing takes the form of a murder-suicide the crime may be referred to as family annihilation.

 

Stephen ANDERSON

Mass Homicide
Number of Victims: 6
Date of Murders: February 9, 1997
Date of Birth: 1973
Location: Wellington
Method: Shooting
Victims: Neville Robin Anderson (60)
Anthony Gordon McCarty (63)
John Frederick Mathews (28)
Stephen Mark Hansen (38)
Andrea Joy Brander (52)
Hendrick Dirk Van de Wetering (51)

ANDERSON went berserk during a family reunion in a small ski resort killing six people and wounding five others
He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and detained in hospital indefinitely.

 

David GRAY

Mass Murderer
Number of Victims: 13
Date of Murders: November 13, 1990
Date of Birth: 1956
Location: Aramoana
Method: Shooting
Victims: Rewa Ariki Byson (11)
Simon Christopher Cole (62)
Victor James Crimp (71)
James Alexander Dickson (45)
Sergeant Stewart Graeme Guthrie (41)
Garry John Holden (38)
Jasmine Amber Holden (11)
Magnus Jamieson (69)
Ross James Percy (42)
Vanessa Grace Percy (26)
Dion Raymond Jack Percy (6)
Aleki Tali (41)
Leo Wilson (6)

New Zealand’s worst mass murderer, GRAY slaughtered 13 people during a 24-hour rampage in Aramoana, a tiny seaside settlement in Otago, near Dunedin.

The Special Tactics Group located and shot him dead the next day.

 

Stanley GRAHAM

Mass Murderer (Spree killer)
Number of Victims: 7
Date of Murders: October 8, 1941
Date of Birth: 1900
Location: Kowhitirangi
Method: Shooting
Victims: Sergeant William Cooper (43)
Constable Fredrick Jordan (26)
Constable Percy Tulloch (35)
Constable Edward Best (27)
George Ridley
Richard Coulson
Gregory Hutchison

On October 8, 1941 Graham confronted a neighbour with a rifle. Later that morning Constable Edward Best, 27, attempted to discuss the matter with Graham but backed off with Graham pointing two rifles out the window at him. Best retreated to Hokitika for back-up and returned to the farm with Sergeant William Cooper, 43, and Constables Frederick Jordan, 26, and Percy Tulloch, 35.

Graham fired at them as they approached the house, and Sergeant Cooper and Constables Jordan and Tulloch were killed instantly, Cooper having at least four bullet wounds in his body. Constable Best was also shot and died three days later.
Graham also shot an agricultural instructor, George Ridley, who came to his door, and fled his house. He returned the next evening and killed home guardsmen Richard Coulson and Gregory Hutchison in a firefight.
More than 100 police and army personnel searched dense bush for Graham for 12 days, with orders to shoot on sight if they found Graham still armed. On October 20 an injured Graham was shot by Auckland Constable James Quirke as he walked out of the bush carrying his rifle. He died the next day in hospital. Constable Quirke reported Graham told him he was intending to give up that night.

The definition of mass murder is murdering many people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time.
FBI defines mass murder as murdering four or more persons during an event with no cooling off period between murders. It typically occurs in one location where one or more people kill several others.

 

David BAIN

Mass Murderer?
Number of Victims: 5?
Date of Murders: June 20, 1994
Date of Birth: 1972
Location: Dunedin
Method: Shooting
Victims: Robin (59)
Margaret (50)
Arawa (19)
Laniet (18)
Stephen (14)

This was one of our most famous cases. David BAIN was convicted in May 1995 of murdering his parents and siblings and sentenced to life in prison. He served 13 ½ years of his life sentence before successfully appealing to the Privy Council in May 2007. They found there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice and his convictions were quashed and a new trial was ordered. The second trial ended with his acquittal on all charges in June 2009.

There are several books written about this case:
Joe Karam - David and Goliath: the BAIN family murders
James McNeish – The Mask of Sanity: the Bain murders
Joe Karam – Bain and Beyond
Judith Wolfe and Trevor Reeves: In the Grip of Evil: The Bain Murders

Even though David Bain was acquitted there is still a debate going on whether or not he or his father Robin is responsible for the murders. Joe Karam has been a firm supporter since the very beginning and James McNeish’s book looks at if David was guilty.