KEY POINTS:
A homicide investigation has been launched after the body of woman was found in a Lower Hutt flat last night.
Police identified the woman late this afternoon and said she was known to the 43-year-old man who appeared in Wellington District Court today, charged with assaulting her.
The man was remanded in custody and the officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Levy, said further charges were possible.
Police were told about 9pm yesterday that there was a dead person at the Pomare address.
They entered the one-bedroom flat and found a body in the bedroom. No one else was at the address.
"The deceased appears to have been there for an unknown number of days," Mr Levy said.
Mr Levy said the body was that of a 48-year-old woman who was known to the man who was in custody.
"A post mortem examination will be carried out tomorrow," he said.
"We spent today commencing a scene examination and I tried to identify who she is.
"The body has been there for a few days and obviously we need to establish when death occurred and that's what we're focusing on at the moment."
Mr Levy said it may take some days to complete the scene examination.
- NZPA
