Ex-detective charged in kidnap, murder of wife

Suzanne Marie McSweeney's body was found at this building on Good Friday. Picture / Dean Purcell

A former high-profile police detective has been charged with the kidnapping and murder of his wife at their Silverdale business.

Rodney police are refusing to name the 54-year-old man but he is understood to be David Charles McSweeney, the husband of the victim, Suzanne Marie McSweeney, aged 50.

Mrs McSweeney's body was discovered in a building at Anvil Rd in Silverdale, 30km north of Auckland, at about 1pm on Good Friday.

It is a light industrial area where the couple were co-directors of Creative Textiles which made curtains, blinds and soft furnishings.

Police described the incident as a "domestic" and were not seeking others in relation to their investigation.

A weapon had been recovered but police would not say what it was. McSweeney was first charged with injuring with intent to injure but yesterday two further charges were laid relating to his wife's alleged kidnapping and murder.

He was in police custody and under guard at North Shore Hospital where he had been taken with serious injuries on Friday. McSweeney is expected to appear at a special court hearing to be convened tomorrow.

Investigators completed their forensic examination of the address yesterday afternoon but said it was far from complete and inquiries would continue.

A spokesman said no further comments would be made at this time.

Police officers including a photographer were yesterday combing the scene for evidence and a BMW parked outside the building was photographed.

A man who was at his work for about 20 minutes on the Friday morning said he did not see or hear anything unusual at the neighbouring premises.

He said the couple were never any trouble.

"It's upsetting. You get to meet people and something like this happens - it's a bit unnerving."

Other people who worked in the vicinity of the building were stunned by the news.

One woman said: "I knew her [Mrs McSweeney] because she made my curtains. She was a very nice lady. They had a very busy business."

A Silverdale man who had done business with them and sold them a car said he had no problems with them.

"They seemed a happy enough couple ... just ordinary people."

It was understood McSweeney had worked for some time after leaving the police force as a private investigator.

He had been one of two detectives in charge of the Crown cases against Mark Stephens, known as the Parnell Panther, who was sentenced in 1985 to 12 years' jail for the 1983 rape of a model.

Stephens was also sentenced to five years' jail for seriously assaulting a woman.

The detectives claimed that Stephens told them during an adjournment in his rape trial that he would kill their wives.

Mr Stephens' immediate response to the Herald when approached for comment on McSweeney's arrest yesterday was: "I didn't kill her."

He then added: "What goes around, comes around, and hits the ground."

Mr Stephens, who is now an Otara youth worker, said the news was of little interest to him although he could clearly remember McSweeney "like it was yesterday".

He said the detective was "leading the circus" in the investigations against him.

McSweeney also made the news in 1985 as the police officer who arrested Major Alain Mafart and Captain Dominique Prieur, the French Secret Services agents who helped mastermind the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.