Mystery masks shooting

To their friends, John and Dale Wickham were a happily married couple. Now those friends are left grieving and confused after John's death from a shotgun blast to the chest.

The West Auckland couple had been married for 40 years when, last month, Dale allegedly shot 62-year-old John at their family home in the suburb of Massey.

Ten days later at John's funeral, a mourner would describe how Dale was "always smiling with a warm heart".

But there was more to the marriage, and only some of it was known to friends.

John was known to be a keen fisherman - but that did not explain the shotgun and other firearms found in the house. A knife was hidden under a pillow, according to one source.

Dale also has Multiple Sclerosis (MS), but was in denial about it, according to one mourner. The degenerative neurological disorder affects the central nervous system, can be unpredictable, and may lead to disability.

Now charged with murder and on bail at her Longview Rise home where the tragedy happened, Dale, 61, smiled when she opened her front door wearing her nightie on Thursday morning.

A generous couple, the Wickhams frequently opened their home to Asian students as a homestay. In 2003 Dale described to the Listener her dealings with local police, with regard to some of her young Asian homestayers driving without licences.

But on that October night, the police came to the street for a different reason.

It was late Saturday, October 10, and the residents of Longview Rise were surprised when several uniformed police arrived at the quiet cul-de-sac and started knocking on doors.

Initially residents thought there had been a break-through in the hunt for 2-year-old Aisling Symes, who had been missing since October 5.

Later the word spread that John - who one neighbour described as the man "who looked after the street" - was dead.

Neighbours stood huddled in the dark and talked in whispers while across the road police cordoned off the couple's home. Several boxes were removed from the property and the lights were turned off.

On that night, Dale is understood to have phoned police to raise the alarm. She offered them tea on arrival.

Detective Sergeant Murray Free declined to comment on the details of the case, as it is now before the court.

Dale's lawyer, Sanjay Patel, would say only that any details about the weapon or the nature of the alleged shooting were the subject of forensic tests, the results of which he was yet to receive.

Ten days after the shooting, about 100 mourners arrived at the main chapel of the Morrison Funeral Home in Henderson to farewell John.

While eulogies contained some understanding of what had happened, there was still shock and disbelief.

Funeral celebrant Keith King said while John had many friends, "his closer interpersonal relations were less than perfect, and this has led to some regret".

Describing the night of October 10, King said: "A firearm was discharged and John's life was lost."

Friend Judy Crockett described John's death as "the result of a true tragedy".

No one could understand how a 40-year marriage, despite having "its share of trials and tribulations", could have ended in such a way.

"We will probably never understand what went wrong," Crockett said.

She described Dale as having a "warm and loving face, with a love of life, even when her MS took over her life".

Her husband Ron, meanwhile, described how he met John as a teenager in West Auckland, and how he became a "true Westie petrol head".

The two became flatmates and would spend hours fishing in John's boat.

Ron ended his eulogy with the simple words: "Good mates take a long time to make - miss you mate."

The Crocketts and the Wickhams were life-long friends.

"You do a bit of soul searching to see whether you should have looked for more signals or whether you should have acted on some signals," Ron told the Herald on Sunday.

Dale was a strong woman, he said, who had fought her MS for years. And, despite the tragic end, he and his wife would support Dale.

"I've lost a good friend. I don't want to lose two good friends."

* Multiple sclerosis

The majority of MS suffers lead fulfilling lives but the condition can bring on periods of "overwhelming fatigue" to the point where lifting your head out of bed can be a strain.

Gary McMahon, general manager of the Auckland Multiple Sclerosis Society, said the condition also affected memory and concentration and mood and emotions, and affected three women to every one man. Nationwide, about 3000 people have it.