Whanganui business owner remembers alleged murder victim

A dreamcatcher often admired by a woman who was found dead in a Whanganui apartment has been gifted to her family for her funeral.

The ornamental charm hung in the window of the shop below the apartment in which police found the body 41-year-old Lorna-Anne Marie Thompson on Wednesday evening.

Shop owner Hannah Li said she had decided before Thompson's death to give her the dreamcatcher hanging in her shop window as 'she would often ask about it and talk about getting one herself'.

It was only hours later at around 8.30pm Wednesday police were alerted to the discocvery of Thompson's body at one of the second story apartments above the shop.

A 50-year-old man has been charged with her murder and he appeared in Whanganui District Court on Thursday, where the court suppressed publication of his name.

Li said she hasn't always had the best relationship with the residents living upstairs, but said the woman was always polite and friendly.

Li recalled recently seeing Thompson walk down the side stairs of the building with another woman who looked very similar.

Li stopped to ask who the other woman was, and was told her it was her mother who had come to visit.

"They put their heads together real playfully like twins. That's the last time I saw her," Li said.

After learning about what happened, Li decided it was only right to gift the dreamcatcher to Thompson's family.

"I've given it to her cousins who said they'll hang it up at her funeral.

"She always wanted a dreamcatcher so I gave her my one so she can have it at her funeral."

Police confirmed yesterday Thompson's body was found in a flat on the corner of Victoria Ave and Ingestre St, not at a residential property on Liverpool St as they'd previously announced.

The victim was known to the man and nobody else was being sought in relation to her death, police said.

The accused was granted name suppression by consent on the basis that it was his first appearance and due to the background of the circumstances.

Lawyer Stephanie Burlace appeared on behalf of the alleged offender and made no application for bail.

In court documents police allege the accused murdered Thompson on or before April 6, 2019.

The accused will reappear in the High Court on May 9 at 9am.