Indefinite term on cards for murderer

Peter Steven Waihape

A man who sought psychiatric help before murdering a prostitute by repeatedly running her over in a car faces an indefinite jail term.

The woman, 24, who cannot be named, was found dead in the Avon River with her wrists bound after the brutal attack by Peter Steven Waihape in a Christchurch carpark last December.

She was the second Christchurch prostitute to be murdered in eight months. Susie Sutherland, 36, was strangled in a vacant central Christchurch section the previous April.

In the High Court in Christchurch yesterday, Waihape pleaded guilty to a charge of the raping the woman. He had earlier admitting murdering her.

A charge of kidnapping was withdrawn yesterday.

Justice Lester Chisholm told the court that the open-ended jail term of preventive detention was a possibility at sentencing this month.

Waihape has also pleaded guilty to raping and abducting a 17-year-old in a separate incident in the days before the killing.

The Herald understands he approached mental health services, seeking help after the first attack.

In a statement released to the Herald yesterday, the Canterbury District Health Board said its specialist mental health service had contact with Waihape close to the time of the offences.

"The care of him has been reviewed and was appropriate to his needs at that time. There was no requirement for ongoing treatment. He will be seen if required by the regional forensic psychiatric service while he is a prison inmate."

The murder victim's father was in the court yesterday, but chose not to comment on the court proceedings.

He had said she was a loving daughter who battled drug addiction but wanted to turn her life around for the sake of her own young daughter.

Waihape is due to be sentenced on August 17.