Costs force Cormack child safety trust to close

A child safety trust formed after the murder of primary schoolgirl Teresa Cormack 27 years ago is being wound up because of the cost of keeping up with its original aim of protecting youngsters on their way to and from school.

Child Watch Safety Houses was formed to create a network of identifiable homes to which children could retreat if they felt in fear on the streets, and worked with schools to promote child safety en route.

Napier Detective Emmet Lynch, who worked on the long-running Cormack homicide inquiry and who is a long-time member of the trust and its final treasurer, said it was "totally reliant" on community donations and charitable funding from community organisations to be able to pay for its community worker and associated costs, such as ACC levies and operational costs.

"Over the last few years, funding has become very spasmodic and the management committee has found it increasingly difficult to complete all functions and regulatory obligations," he said.

The decision to wind up was made after meetings in September and October. Mr Lynch said that, while it was "regrettable," several financial factors meant it was the only option. "We would like to sincerely thank all our safe houses volunteers for their many years of support and service to their respective communities, media organisations who enabled the delivery of our key messages, and also the many persons, including businesses, who provided financial assistance."

Teresa was 6 when she was abducted from a suburban street on her way to Richmond School, Maraenui, on June 19, 1987. Her body was found in a shallow grave at a beach beside State Highway 2, north of Napier, eight days later.

No one was charged in the immediate inquiry, which involved police officers from throughout the country. However, developments in DNA testing allowed police to finally make an arrest when they knocked on the door of a suspect in a Lower Hutt suburb on February 26, 2002. The man arrested was Jules Pierre Nicholas Mikus, who denied being involved.

He was later found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, and preventive detention for sexual violation, which at the time carried a minimum 10 years before he could be considered for release. Parole was denied in 2012. Mikus is currently eligible for a further hearing of his application.