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A former Timaru man has been charged with murder after the bodies of his father and his father's partner were found in a mineshaft in Australia.
The Timaru Herald reported today that the bodies of Murray Finch and Leone Musgrove were recovered from near Rockhampton, Queensland, on Sunday. They had been shot.
Mr Finch's son Hayden Michael, 19, had been charged with the murders and remanded in custody to appear again in the Rockhampton court on January 23.
Hayden's mother Robyn Valentine told the newspaper last night said that Mr Finch had attended Timaru Boys High School and later worked at the Timaru District Council.
He moved to Australia in 1983.
She said Hayden had a mental illness and "the system" had failed him.
"He had been over here (in New Zealand) for six months and only just gone back to Australia," she said.
"He really wasn't very well and it's a very tragic situation."
Hayden was a student at the exclusive private school St Brendans at Yeppoon, near Rockhampton.
He was school vice-captain and was a top rugby player.
- NZPA
