Unkempt Lundy house of horrors sits empty

The property is now understood to be on the market. Photo / File

Nearly 15 years after their gruesome deaths, the house where Amber and Christine Lundy were murdered stands empty.

As evening settled on Palmerston North yesterday, the curtains at the Karamea Cres home were drawn, its lawn unkempt.

Neighbours said the property, on a quiet street of mostly single-storey houses with gardens, had not been occupied for several months.

"I think they've been doing work on the house," one said.

She and another neighbour said they had seen people visiting the house only intermittently.

The property is now understood to be on the market.

One regular visitor to the neighbourhood, who was staying near the Lundy house, said it would take "a very strong person" to be comfortable living there.

She believed Lundy was guilty and said she felt sorry for the home's owners.

But another neighbour said he moved into the area years after the murders, and was comfortable living in the street.

Others in Palmerston North and its surrounds had strong views on the case.

Zoe Waldman, a salon owner from nearby Feilding, said she welcomed yesterday's unanimous guilty verdict.

"He so obviously did it," Ms Waldman said.

"Forensics don't lie," she said, referring to the brain matter the Crown said was mashed into the fibres of the convicted killer's polo shirt.

"Where do you get brain matter if you've not just bludgeoned your wife and child?"

Ms Waldman said taxpayers had forked out big time for the retrial.

"I don't feel that we should be paying to [retry] someone who's so obviously guilty."

Registered nurse Jamie Stout said the murders were "hideous" and Lundy deserved to spend a long time in jail.

She said the sentence of 20 years was longer than many other murderers seemed to receive.

"I actually think 20 years was pretty good for New Zealand."

But Ms Stout said people would never be comfortable with Lundy living in their neighbourhood, if he was eventually released on parole.

"I almost think he should be institutionalised forever.

"If he gets out, how will he be monitored?"