Travis Burns: killer even criminals fear

TONY WALL traces a criminal career that began at the age of 8 and climaxed in a savage and inexplicable murder

The tall, good-looking Maori with sad eyes stood in the witness stand in a pristine suit while a hushed courtroom hung on his words.

In quiet, measured tones Travis Burns confessed that he was a dope grower and would-be bank robber.

But no way was he a killer.

With oratory skills that belied his background as a high-school drop-out, the convicted rapist used all his charm to try to win over the jurors.

The High Court at Auckland last month saw an immaculately groomed, well-spoken young man who appeared not to have a violent bone in his body.

The stranger who turned up on Whangaparaoa mother Joanne McCarthy's doorstep almost two years earlier was the Travis Burns the jury did not see.

Police never found a motive for the horrific events that followed.

Burns exploded, raining hammer blows, kicks and punches on Ms McCarthy's head and body in front of two howling toddlers.

Ms McCarthy fought valiantly, and at some point she managed to scratch his chest deeply.

After she died Burns, for ever thinking ahead, put her body in a bath to wash away the bloody evidence. But he did not think to check her nails, which held the vital DNA clue that would prove his downfall.

So what turned Burns into a murderer?

Abandoned by his father as a child, a loner, a drifter -he certainly fits the profiles of serial killers and rapists.

Born in Auckland on June 14, 1968, to Charlotte and David Burns, he grew up in Papakura, the youngest of two boys. He was just 3 when his father moved to Australia, where he remarried and had another son.

Burns' feelings of abandonment turned to devastation when he learned that his father had called the new baby Travis.

At 8, he was caught committing his first burglary, at a house near his family home in Tairere Crescent.

In 1977, he gained a stepfather when his mother, Charlotte, married Bruce Piggott. Then came two stepbrothers.

Burns attended Rosehill Intermediate, where he was an average student, but dropped out of Rosehill College a month into the fifth form.

He lived on the streets, developed a liking for drugs, particularly cannabis, and appeared regularly in Youth Court for burglary and theft.

In 1984, his criminal career moved to a sinister new level.

Sniffing glue with a 15-year-old streetkid in Kirks Bush, Papakura, he allegedly raped the girl. She ran away while the case was still before the courts.

That same year Burns did his first stint in prison - two months of corrective training in Rangipo for burglary and aggravated assault.

The following year he was sent to Waikeria prison for burglary and was also convicted of "peeping and peering" - a rare charge that police say shows the way he was heading.

In 1988, the 19-year-old Burns' car broke down in Papatoetoe, so he went looking for homes to burgle. He broke into a house using a skeleton key, and began prowling.

He took a knife from a kitchen drawer and went into a bedroom, where he found a 20-year-old woman asleep. He held the knife to her throat, raped her and committed indecencies on her.

But he left fingerprints. Knowing police were looking for him, he left Auckland, and broke into several homes in Waihi before he was tracked down.

Justice James Robertson, sentencing him to 8 1/2 years' jail, told him he was like a wild animal.

Burns was sent to Kaitoke prison, near Wanganui. Four years into his term, he escaped from a work party, and was recaptured two months later on the northern shores of the Hokianga Harbour by a police dog-handler.

Perhaps he gave off a strong scent - it was the first of at least three times he would be tracked down by police dogs.

Burns was put in maximum security at Paremoremo, where he began associating with some of New Zealand's most notorious criminals.

Released early in 1995, he met West Auckland woman Teresa Brandon, who became pregnant and gave birth to a girl, Eilish, that December.

Despite his new domestic life, he could not stay out of trouble.

He robbed a bank at Warkworth, stole a gun during a burglary in Tuakau, and in May 1995 stole a Toyota Corolla from Princes St in central Auckland.

He was spotted by police and chased at high speed to Papakura. He tried to ram the police cars off the road before running off across a paddock, pursued by Constable David Templeton and his dog Saber.

Burns lay flat as though giving himself up, but at the last moment grabbed a fence post and lashed out at the dog and officer.

He smashed Constable Templeton repeatedly over the head until the fence post snapped.

When Burns appeared in the Papakura District Court charged with aggravated wounding, he escaped by duping court staff into thinking he was another man due to be bailed.

He was rounded up a few days later and sentenced to two years' jail.

Late in 1995, Burns heard about a new rehabilitation centre being set up by the Waipareira Trust for Maori inmates on parole.

He wrote asking to be admitted, saying he wanted to turn his life around. In May 1996 he was released to the custody of the trust and became the first resident of the Massey rehab centre.

Manager Charles Hohaia said he started out as a model resident, but soon got into trouble. He was suspected of hiding drugs in a roof and of taking unauthorised leave.

He was expelled in October 1996and returned to Mt Eden Prison.

When he was freed a short time later, he began living in Orewa with Ms Brandon, her child to a previous partner and Eilish.

He made another attempt to go straight, getting jobs and joining a rugby league team.

But it was not long before his dark side took control again.

In July 1997, he and an associate stole a car from Quay St and drove to West Auckland.

Though a relatively minor offence beside his previous crimes, it would be a defining moment.

A community constable saw the vehicle in Titirangi, did a licence check and found it was stolen.

Burns and his associate went bush near Scenic Drive and the dog unit was again called in.

The arresting officer, Constable Don Baillie, of Henderson, says Burns was cooperative and even provided a voluntary blood sample so his DNA could be stored on the rapidly growing databank.

Burns was not jailed for the stolen car offence. Having fallen out with Ms Brandon, he began flatting at a number of different addresses north of Auckland and continued to prowl, looking for homes to burgle.

He eventually moved back in with Ms Brandon at her Titirangi home, but it was while living in Zealandia Rd, Little Manly, in July of 1998 that he is believed to have come into contact with Joanne McCarthy.

It is suspected that he might have seen her from across a park bordering their properties.

On the morning of November 12, 1998, Burns arrived at the McCarthy home in Whangaparaoa Rd.

It was obvious to him that someone was home - it was a hot day, windows were open and children's music was playing.

It is not known what he was planning - perhaps his intention was to rape, perhaps to burgle.

Burns is considered by police and criminals alike to be a dangerous psychopath. Former Paremoremo inmate Dave Mohi, a convicted kidnapper, says he would not like to cross his path.

He said Burns often stood over smaller inmates in Paremoremo, once threatening to "smash a guy's face in."

A police officer who has studied Burns believes he is a psychopath, a loner with a personality disorder.

"I think he's got a dark side that surfaces from time to time. I think he made a genuine effort to go straight but he couldn't.

"It's so much a part of him to be a villain - he just couldn't make it on the other side, so he's gone back to the black side."

His family sees Burns' good qualities. His girlfriend's mother, Lorraine Brandon, told the Herald that he was a good father.

"What I can't understand is how a guy who is so protective and loving of his child could beat a woman to death in front of two kids - the Travis I know wouldn't do that."

Burns' arrest for the McCarthy murder was not the end of the saga - at least one more surprise was in store.

Desperate to get out of Mt Eden Prison, where he had often been beaten by bigger inmates, he staged a daring escape, leaping over a wall in April. He severely injured his back and was recaptured by the armed offenders squad four days later at a house in Papatoetoe.