KEY POINTS:
A merciless killer who abducted a six-year-old Christchurch girl as she walked home from school, throttled her and dumped her body in a river is again seeking parole 20 years after being jailed.
Peter Joseph Holdem had just been released from jail for the abduction and attempted murder of a 10-year-old girl in the 1980s when he dragged Louisa Damodran off a street near her Bromley home on October 15, 1986.
After abducting Louisa, Holdem drove to the Waimakariri River, north of Christchurch, where he strangled her and threw her in the river.
Louisa's body was found some weeks later.
She would have been aged 27 today. Holdem is now in his early 50s.
Holdem's attack was sexually motivated, with Louisa's backpack and items of her clothing found at a Kaiapoi house.
Holdem would face a Parole Board hearing in September, but his latest bid for freedom would be strongly opposed by Louisa's father, Bob Damodran, and the former detective who headed the homicide case, The Star newspaper reported today.
"He is a cold, calculating killer," retired detective Mel Griebel told The Star.
"I am absolutely convinced he will kill again if he is released. He gets sexual gratification from seeing fear in his young victims."
Mr Damodran said his daughter's brutal killer should stay behind bars.
"He should stay in jail," he said.
"If he gets out he will definitely be a danger to young children."
Mr Damodran said there was not a day when he didn't think of Louisa.
"You can't sweep it under the carpet . . . it gives you the shivers."
Mr Griebel said he believed it was only luck that the 10-year-old Holdem abducted in Hagley Park in the 1980s survived.
"He bound her and left that little girl for dead."
A member of the public had found and freed the 10-year-old.
Holdem was last considered for parole in 2004.
The Parole Board decided then he had made only a limited response to treatment while in jail, he was still a danger to the public and there was a high risk of him reoffending.
Further parole applications were banned for three years.
- NZPA
