In today’s headlines with Chereè Kinnear, David Seymour outlines expectations for Pharmac, new speed-camera signage and Tenacious D world tour gets halted.
Clinton James Hepi, of Browns Bay, appeared before Justice Matthew Downs in the Auckland High Court after allegedly killing the woman on Friday, June 28, at her home in Wyvern Pl, Glenfield.
His lawyer, Shane Cassidy, entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Hepi. Cassidy said Hepi was not seeking to continue the interim name suppression granted at his first appearance.
The woman’s name was suppressed at the man’s first appearance in the North Shore District Court. That suppression continued until September 18 by order of Justice Downs, who set a trial date of September 22 next year, for three weeks.
Clinton James Hepi appears in the Auckland High Court on July 17 charged with murdering a woman in Glenfield the previous month. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Hepi, 51, was arrested and charged with her murder soon after, appearing in the North Shore District Court on the Saturday, where he was granted interim name suppression.
Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Sherer said the woman was taken to hospital in a critical condition and did not survive.
In the days after the incident, when police tape remained up around the unit, a man who arrived at the scene with a bunch of white flowers paid tribute to the woman, his niece.
“She was a mother of two. She was a beautiful person.”
Detectives and forensic specialists conducted a lengthy scene examination at the home where the woman lived in the downstairs flat.
The woman was rushed to hospital in a critical condition from the Wyvern Pl property where she lived in a downstairs flat. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Residents in Wyvern Pl, a dead-end street nestled in bush next to Eskdale Reserve, were shocked to hear of the woman’s death.
“It’s really unusual [to have police here] because it’s a really quiet street … so we knew something was wrong,” said a man living across the street from where police had put emergency tape around a two-storey home.
“We don’t have much crime down here because it’s a cul-de-sac. People come down here and they get stuck.”
He knew a woman he believed was aged in her 50s lived in a ground-level flat.
“We’d see her walking her dog.”
A man would also often visit the woman, but he’d never seen any trouble, the neighbour said.
A few houses down, residents were also alarmed by the woman’s death.
“This is a big shock to me, actually”, one said. ”This is normally a very quiet street.”
