Murdered landlady begged for her life

Darunee Aphiromlerk

A Thai woman pleaded for her life as her killer threw her, tied in a duvet cover, from a bridge into the Waikato River, a court heard yesterday.

Dean Joseph Sheperd, 45, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his former landlady Darunee Aphiromlerk, on October 3, 2004.

At the opening of his trial yesterday in the High Court at Auckland, Crown prosecutor Richard Marchant said Sheperd told police he "lost control" and "snapped" because the woman was always putting him and his family down.

When police found him he had admitted what he had done and took part in a police video reconstruction, which will be shown to the jury.

In the reconstruction, said Mr Marchant, Sheperd takes police to the railway overbridge and demonstrates how he threw the 49-year-old over.

He goes through the hours before her death, describing how he left her bound inside her flat while he went home to think about what to do.

He describes how he waited at the rail bridge at the Whangamarino inlet to the Waikato River for about two hours, with Ms Aphiromlerk tied inside the duvet, until he decided to throw her in.

She was still alive, he said, pleading for her life when he lifted her on to his shoulders to throw her over, said Mr Marchant.

Sheperd said nothing.

Ms Aphiromlerk, a Manurewa property trader, was found floating 500m north of the inlet on October 21. Aquatic life had eaten away much of the evidence, Mr Marchant said, but her feet and hands were still bound with white laces from Sheperd's shoes and her body was still inside a duvet he told police he had put her in before tying the top with a piece of black rope he found on the bridge.

Mr Marchant told Justice Judith Potter that Sheperd owed Ms Aphiromlerk $2500 in rent for a property he had previously lived in, he owed Housing New Zealand $1800 rent for the property he was living in, and another $8000 on a personal loan for his car, for which he could not make payments.

Mr Marchant told the jury of eight men and four women that there was a history of arguments between Sheperd and Ms Aphiromlerk. Witnesses would give evidence she was not honest in her dealings with people, he said, but the case was not a popularity contest.

Sheperd had gone to his former landlady asking for a flat for his family. When she refused, an argument broke out.

Mr Marchant said Sheperd told police he pushed her on to a bed and tied her hands and feet with his shoelaces, then put a brown belt around her wrists and a sock around her feet.

He went home to think about what to do, then returned and drove her to the railway bridge.

"Later in darkness while she was pleading for her life he threw her into the river where she drowned.

"That's what the accused told police he did."

Mr Marchant said Sheperd later returned to her home and stole her television. He sold it to friends who would give evidence at the trial.

He said Sheperd also took the dead woman's BMW and dumped it, discarding her jersey, credit cards, keys and handbag.

In his reconstruction Sheperd shows police where he put all those things, Mr Marchant said.

The court would also hear from a friend of Sheperd who would say Sheperd asked him six months before the killing, "shall we get rid of the bitch".

In a video interview after his arrest, Mr Marchant said Sheperd told police: "Yeah I did it, I lost control of myself, I snapped, she was always downgrading me."