Blenheim homicide: Cleaner Paul Armon accused of murdering mother Jennifer Sheehan

A homicide investigation was launched after Jennifer Sheehan was found dead in her Blenheim home on November 25, 2024.

A man accused of murdering a woman in her Blenheim home last month can now be identified as her son.

A homicide investigation was launched after Jennifer Phyllis Sheehan was found dead at her property in Blenheim on the morning of November 25.

Her son, Paul Thomas Armon, a cleaner of Blenheim, was arrested shortly after.

The police charge sheet lists the date of the alleged offence as November 22.

The 55-year-old entered no plea when he appeared via audio-video link in the High Court this morning.

He was granted interim name suppression at an initial brief appearance in the Blenheim District Court before name suppression lapsed unchallenged today.

Sheehan’s family said after she was discovered that they had been left feeling “shocked and utterly lost for words”.

Her nephew, Jarrod, paid tribute to Sheehan in a post online, saying he was “angry” and “confused, but mostly sad”.

“I’m shocked and utterly lost for words about what has happened to my Aunty Jenny,” he said.

Jarrod said he still “can’t comprehend” what happened and “probably never will understand” how it could happen, “especially in Blenheim”.

He described Sheehan as having an “infectious laugh”.

“Mainly I’m sad for my kids, who she loved and treated like her own grandchildren ... I genuinely felt the love she shared for our kids and that’s something I will never forget,” he said.

Jarrod said he felt “robbed of time that I’ll never get again”. He said he would think of Sheehan every time he hears a song by Elvis and smile when something “quirky reminds me of her”.

“I hope to remember her stories so she continues to live through them and we can laugh for many years to come,” he said.

Armon’s lawyer Rob Harrison said detailed psychiatric reports would be needed to assess his fitness to plea or stand trial, which was scheduled for August 2026.

He would enter a plea at a case review scheduled for March 28.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.