Identikits yield 50 names

Press, 25 August 1980, Page 1

Identikits yield 50 names

PA Auckland Detectives investigating the Avondale killing of Alicia O’Reilly, aged six, have had about 50 names put to two identikit pictures of men seen near her home about the time of the attack.

The pictures were released to newspapers on Saturday after being circulated among residents near the O’Reilly home, in Canal Road, during the week.

Detective Inspector B. E. Matthews, who heads the inquiry, said last evening that .about half the men named could have been in the area on August 16 or the next day, when the child was found dead. She had been raped and suffocated.

Inspector Matthews said no-one had come forward offering himself as a likeness to the identikits. The men, suggested by people throughout New Zealand, would be interviewed. .. A man who accosted a girl in AvOndale on Friday,

and who resembles one of the two identikit likenesses, had not been traced by late last evening. One man is described as a Polynesian, aged 20 to 24, 1.88 metres (6ft 2in) tall, of medium build, clean-shaven, with a large "Afro” hairstyle. r. • He was seen walking past the house about 6.30 a.m. on August 16. He was wearing a khaki military bomber jacket, with a long, dull-coloured scarf, blue jeans, and light’ brown knee-high boots with pointed toes. He was carrying a blue duffel bag.

The other man was seen near the house the previous night. He is described as a Polynesian, aged 19 or 20, 1.88 to 1.90 metres (6ft 3in), of muscular build, with broad shoulders and an “Afro” haircut. He also was cleanshaven and is thought to have a scar or mark on the left side of the neck at collar level. He has thick eyebrows and was wearing blue jeans, a big coat, and ankle boots.