Treaty Principles Bill voted down at its second reading and Trump claims he wants new trade deals with all countries, including China. Video / NZ Herald, AFP
Elliot Alfred James Cameron pleaded guilty to murdering Frances Phelps at her Christchurch home.
Cameron, a Hillmorton Hospital mental health patient, was Phelps’ gardener.
Phelps’ daughter Karen has shared the “devastating” impact of her mother’s death on their family.
The man accused of murdering Christchurch pensioner Frances “Faye” Phelps at her hillside home has pleaded guilty.
And it can now be revealed he is a resident of Hillmorton Hospital, where he has been “a mental health patient”.
He is Elliot Alfred James Cameron, in his 70s.
Phelps was found dead at her home in Mt Pleasant on October 7.
“It still feels surreal and it is hard to get our heads around what has happened,” she said.
“We miss Mum terribly. Our lives are not the same any more. For example, whenever I go about my daily life, someone will inevitably say something. It’s not like a normal death where not everybody knows.
“People have also been talking about it. Not that I blame them, people are shocked and want answers and so it’s natural they will talk.
“But it has led to misinformation about her death circulating, which has been upsetting for those that knew her.”
A homicide investigation was launched after the death of Faye Phelps at her home in the Christchurch suburb of Mt Pleasant. Photo / George Heard
It was “hard to escape” the nature of her mother’s death and “live a normal life” again.
“I kind of dread going to things or seeing people I haven’t seen since it happened as I know someone will say something and so it’s really hard to get a sense of normality back in your life,” she explained.
“I’m a very private person and I know now I will always be ‘the woman whose mother was murdered’ to some people. So my identity has been forever altered as well and an aspect of my privacy taken away.”
Karen said her mother’s most special quality was her kindness and compassion for other people.
“She was always thinking about others and wanting to help them in any way she could. She donated a great deal of money to charity, for example - I didn’t realise how much until I stumbled upon all the receipts after she passed away.
“She visited people in prison to share her faith, supported people at her church and was always willing to lend an ear to someone who needed advice.
“She was a dedicated Christian, so I’d say Jesus was her main ‘hobby’, especially as she got older. She went to church every Sunday, a church craft group every week and spent time every morning and evening praying and reading her Bible. She loved Radio Rhema and it would be going in every room in the house.”
Faye Phelps was strongly committed to her Christian faith.
Phelps was so committed to her faith that she was described as “a prayer warrior” by those in her church community.
She was born in 1941 in Christchurch and raised in Avonside. She married Bill in 1965.
When she was younger, she was a keen singer and actress, part of the Sumner Theatre Group and performed in shows at the Theatre Royal.
She was a “homebody” who loved to “potter” around her home and garden.
She loved to read and prioritised her health. Her daughter said that, at 83, she was fit and “really good about eating healthily and exercising”.
“She was always doing exercises for specific things like balance etc to remain fit and healthy. She would go for walks around the hill each day as part of her general fitness regime.
“I would say she was really disciplined. She was also incredibly neat and tidy – I often wondered what her house cleaner actually did.
Faye was involved in local theatre and loved to act.
“She was an introvert, happy to mainly be at home, which is why it is ironic that her death has been so public. Mum would have hated all the attention.
“Mum definitely had a quiet grace and elegance about her. She also had a real inner strength.”
She always had time for friends and family.
She regularly met a group of women with whom she worked at Ballantynes in her younger years, and a group of widows of men who used to work at NZ Railways, where her late husband worked.
Bill died on October 11, 2022, four days before his 82nd birthday.
“They were good parents – fair, kind, good providers,” Karen remembered.
“We had a lot of pets – guinea pigs, rabbits, cats, dogs, chickens, a parrot called Oscar, who is still alive. I remember someone coming up to our house one day and commenting it was like The Good Life [the 70s TV show], where people lived in a self-sustained way. We had a big glasshouse and garden where Dad grew all our food.
“Mum was always a supporter of my hobbies growing up. I remember she would drive me to a different activity every night of the week. When I did ballet, she made my tutu and did a beautiful job and would drive me to lessons and sit in the car waiting for me for a couple of hours.
“In her younger years, she was a good knitter and made us leg-warmers and fingerless gloves when they were in fashion. She also made beautiful novelty cakes for our birthdays as children.”
Faye Phelps, pictured with late husband Bill, was known to those in her church as a "prayer warrior".
Karen had memories of many “great Kiwi camping holidays” in the family caravan.
“Mum was also a savvy businesswoman and always had some sort of job – receptionist for New Brighton Medical Centre, working in an antiques store and sold products around the hill, such as Rawleighs.
“In fact, she passed her Rawleighs round onto me when I was at university and that’s how I partly earned my way through uni. It taught me business skills that have set me up for life.
“I also remember she taught us how to manage money. If we wanted to buy a toy, for example, as children she would buy it then have a little book where she’d note down our payments and we’d have to pay it off each week from our pocket money before we could have it. It was a great skill to learn.”
She said the most important lesson her mother taught her was “acceptance, forgiveness and love”.
“I know she would have accepted what happened to her and I know she would have forgiven [Cameron].”
Faye Phelps was killed in her Christchurch home. Her gardener has now pleaded guilty to her murder and will be sentenced in June.
Karen wanted people to remember her mother for the person she was - not as a victim.
“As a kind and generous soul, a private woman who didn’t realise how respected she was by so many.”
Phelps is survived by Karen and her brother Grant. Her first child, Angela, was stillborn after a full-term pregnancy.
Karen said that, at the time, stillborn babies did not have a funeral or a grave and her mother “never even had the opportunity to see or hold Angela”.
“In more recent years [she] had found the site of Angela’s remains and one of her last wishes was for her ... to be remembered in a family burial plot.”
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz
