Feature
Murderers most foul
by David Lomas
Repeat killers are rare, but their crimes are usually horrific and unforgettable. Jason “House of Horrors” Somerville is just the latest example.
When “House of Horrors” killer Jason Somerville admitted he had murdered twice, he joined a chillingly exclusive but growing list of those who have taken a life on two occasions. In the past 30 years at least 20 New Zealanders have killed and then at a later date killed again.
Justice Lester Chisholm, when sentencing Somerville late last month to a minimum of 23 years’ jail, said the offending was “absolutely incomprehensible” and the sexual dimension to the killings was “sick beyond description”.
Somerville murdered his neighbour Tisha Lowry, 28, in September 2008, and his wife, Rebecca Chamberlain, 35, in August 2009. He strangled both, had sex with them after they were dead, then buried the bodies under his Christchurch home.
There was, said the judge, no apology, no remorse and no empathy from Somerville and his attitude indicated he was at risk of reoffending.
But as shocking as Somerville’s actions were, he is not unique. Although repeat killers are rare – making up little more than 1% of New Zealand’s homicides in the past three decades – there has been a significant number, including some of our most loathsome criminals: Rufus Marsh, Hayden McKenzie, Stephen Stone, David Tamihere and Tony Wilkins.
Psychologist Ian Miller, who has worked for both the New Zealand Police and Justice departments, says two-time killers are rare because “contrary to popular media, especially television, most humans find it is very difficult to kill”. Miller says this is also true of trained soldiers, with studies showing that even in elite military units just half of shots fired are done so with lethal intent. In World War II, he says, it was even lower, with soldiers “firing a whole lot of bullets at anything but the actual enemy”.
Even “justifiable shootings” are difficult, says Miller. Interviews he conducted with police who had killed in the line of duty show “none of them found it easy or pleasurable”.
University of Canterbury criminologist Greg Newbold, who has met many two-time killers, either in a research capacity or as fellow prison inmates, says there is no clear pattern other than most are “male and have had histories [of crime]”. Some of the double killers were, according to Newbold, criminals who “never liked to lose a fight”, which led them to kill. They included Stone, Graeme Burton, Ronald McDonald and John Sadaraka (see profiles). Others were sex killers (Tamihere, Dartelle Alder), wife killers (Malcolm Francis, John Taylor) or baby killers (Heather Ross, Lisa Turner).
Newbold says others were just thugs or thick (Marsh, Dennis Luke). It is a sentiment Miller agrees with; he describes Marsh as “just a violent thug” and Luke as “another violent criminal”. Of the double killers, Miller says just Paul Julian “was a classic example of someone who was criminally insane” and went on “just a frenzied, crazy knife attack”.
None of those identified as having killed at least twice fitted the classification of serial killers, according to Miller, but two (see box next page) did fit as “multiple killers”. Multiple killers are spurred on by “gain, a peculiar belief or they do it for business”.
Serial killers, by contrast, often picked on a particular type as their victims – prostitutes, gays or young women.
The big issue for serial killers was “the act of killing which gives excitement”. It was all about the “thrill and the chase”, the killing often had a sexual component and “the killing was [to the killer] better than sex”.
Newbold, who has known both of New Zealand’s multiple killers, says they acted “to protect financial interests”. He says, “Mainly in their minds [they killed] people who crossed the line.”
Two time murderers
STONE, Stephen Ralph
1989: A Black Power gang member and nightclub bouncer, Stone shot Dean Fuller-Sandys in the basement of a Henderson house as a contract kill because Fuller-Sandys had been stealing drug money. The murder was committed in front of four witnesses who were all forced to shoot Fuller-Sandys as well, to implicate them. Murder.
1989: Five days later, Stone killed one of the witnesses to the Fuller-Sandys murder, prostitute Leah Stephens. She objected to the killing but had been told by Stone to “shut up”. In the days afterwards, he accused Stephens of talking about the murder. Stone forced Stephens back to the murder house, punched her in the face, then ordered one of his murder accomplices to rape her. Stone then raped Stephens himself, before stabbing her in the stomach and slitting her throat in front of two witnesses. Murder.
CURRAN, Michael John
2005 (January): Curran told police three different stories about how his lover, Natasha Hayden, 24, died, near Tauranga. He gave two versions suggesting she’d slipped and strangled herself, then said he’d accidentally strangled her while having sex. Manslaughter.
2005 (September): While on bail for killing Hayden, Curran murdered Aaliyah Morrissey, 2. She was the daughter of Curran’s wife’s friend, a woman with whom he was having an affair. Curran admitted shaking the baby but denied striking her. However, his wife saw him doing it. A pathologist found Aaliyah had severe internal damage and 33 separate external injuries. Murder.
LUKE, Dennis Richard
1975: With fellow Black Power gang member Rufus Marsh, 16-year-old Luke kicked Taffy Williamson to death on a Wellington street. Murder.
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