Christie Marceau was killed in her North Shore home in November 2011. An inquest into her death will be held in June this year. Photograph supplied.
Christie Marceau was killed in her North Shore home in November 2011. An inquest into her death will be held in June this year. Photograph supplied.
A date has been set for an inquest into the death of Auckland teenager Christie Marceau - almost six years after she was killed in her North Shore home.
The inquest will start on Monday, June 12, and is set to run for two weeks.
The Herald understands a number of witnesses will be called to give evidence before Coroner Katharine Greig, including Christie's parents Brian and Tracey Marceau, relatives of her killer and a number of police staff.
Christie, 18, was stabbed repeatedly in her family home by Akshay Chand in November 2011, a month after he was released on bail on charges of kidnapping and assaulting her.
Chand was charged with murder but found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was - and continues to be - detained as a special patient at a forensic mental health facility.
A two-day inquest was set for August 2014 and but two weeks before it was set to start, was postponed.
Akshay Anand Chand. New Zealand Herald photograph.
A Coronial Services spokesman said "counsel for some of the parties sought to have points of law related to the coronial investigation addressed prior to inquest".
Tracey Marceau told the Herald today it was "a huge relief to finally have a date".
She said her family, including Christie's elder sister Heather, 30, had been "living in limbo" waiting for the inquest.
"It will be nearly six years since Christie died though - and the stress we have endured to get to this stage has been unnecessary and cruel," she said.
The Marceaus hoped the inquest would be "thorough" and expose the "failings" that led to Christie's brutal death.
"We will continue to fight for justice for her and hope that this will be the year that we get some solace, although our world will never be complete without our beautiful child," Marceau said.
Christie Marceau. Photograph supplied.
After the teenager's death her family launched Christie's Law, a campaign that pushed for tighter bail laws and an annual review of judges' performance.
In December 2013 Parliament's Law and Order Committee recommended several changes to the bail system but did not go as far as approving the main demands made by the "Christie's Law'' movement.
About the same time, Christie's family were advised an inquest would be held into her death.
Inquests are not usually held for cases that have been resolved in court.
However Coroner Gary Evans wanted to "investigate the wider circumstances" of Christie's case to see if something could be done to "prevent similar deaths happening again".
Coroner Evans has since retired, and the case will be handled by Coroner Greig.
