Downey murderer jailed for at least 13 years

Kerry Downey. Photo / Supplied

The killer of cat protection worker Kerry Leigh Downey is so violent and unpredictable that it may never be safe to release him from his life sentence for murder.

That was the view of the probation officer who reported on Ashley Donald Peach before his sentencing in the High Court at Christchurch today.

The view was repeated by Justice Graham Panckhurst when he imposed a 13-year minimum non-parole term on the 42-year-old for the murder of Ms Downey.

He said there was a misconception that the 13-year term was the sentence, but it was actually the minimum period before the Parole Board could assess risk and consider possible release.

The probation officer wrote: "It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Mr Peach has shown himself to be unpredictable and capable of extreme violence and having little or no capacity for change. It may never be safe to release him back into the community."

Miss Downey, aged 52, was apparently attacked, bound, and strangled to death at Peach's flat in Upper Riccarton when she went there at his request to pick up an unwanted cat.

Justice Panckhurst said he was in little doubt that the attack was sexually motivated, having described two "intimate injuries" on Miss Downey's body. Peach had made only partial admissions to the police and the psychiatrist who interviewed him.

A spokesman for the family said outside the court house that they were "bitterly disappointed" at the short non-parole term. The fact that there had been no trial had hidden the true horror of Peach's crime which would have shown him as a remorseless killer. They thanked the police for their tireless work on the case.

Four family members - Miss Downey's father, two sisters, and brother - read their victim impact statements at the sentencing, describing her as an intelligent, gentle, kind, caring, compassionate woman.

They were horrified by the thought that she had suffered a "torturous", painful death at the hands of Peach, who they described as a callous, cowardly, low-life.

The effect of her murder was devastating, they said, speaking of their horror at her body being dumped "like a bag of rubbish" down a bank at the hill suburb of Westmorland.

Defence counsel Pip Hall said Peach had expressed remorse in a letter to the judge. He was seen as having diminished intellectual capacity or mental impairment. He was illiterate with a borderline IQ of 77. He had lived most of his life in institutions and had been sexually abused as a young boy. He was intellectually and socially impaired and was isolated and frustrated at the time of the murder.

The psychiatrist wrote: "It appears he wasn't able to emotionally cope with the circumstances that faced him at the time of the offending and the victim became a tragic focus of Mr Peach's emotional disintegration."

Crown prosecutor Pip Currie said Peach had previous convictions for sexual offending, violence, and the theft of women's underwear. It was the kind of record that set alarm bells ringing for the protection of women in the community.

The crown was sceptical about the remorse expressed in his letter to the judge, which expressed no emotion.

Justice Panckhurst said Miss Downey had been described as virtuous, gentle, demure, generous, feminine, intelligent, vulnerable and trusting. Those factors also explained why she came into contact with Peach.

He had no doubt of Peach's disadvantaged upbringing and intellectual impairments. But many people in the community suffered from difficulties.

Peach was seen as isolated and socially inept, but the psychiatrist assessed him as a person who was accountable for his actions in spite of his limitations.

Peach's mother left the Court House later, pushed in a wheelchair and with a scarf covering her face from the waiting reporters.

- NZPA