Fatal bar stabbing

Press, 30 August 1980, Page 6

Fatal bar stabbing

The death of a man in a New Lynn public bar last evening left Auckland de. tectives stretched to the full investigating three homicide inquiries, the Press Association reports. The incident came only hours after a Northcote girl, Jacqueline Hazel Blunden, aged 16, died in Auckland Hospital and happened ’ less than 2km from the house where young z.licia O’Reilly was raped and murdered two weeks ago. The police closed the public bar of the Potters Wheel Tavern in Delta Avenue, New Lynn, about 6.30 p.m. after the discovery of the man’s body. He is believed to have been stabbed during a fight in the bar. Police photographers, fingerprint experts and forensic scientists were late last evening combing the tavern for- clues.

Detectives were interviewing tavern staff and patrons but the motive for the killing was not clear. In the Takapuna inquiry, detectives yesterday flew to Christchurch to speak to crew members of H.M.N.Z.S. Taranaki who were at the Kicks nightclub when Miss Blunden was there on the night of Friday, August 22. A preliminary report to the man leading the hunt for Miss Blunden’s killer, Detective Chief Inspector R. N. MacDonald, said the sessions with the crew had been “only routine” at this stage. Detectives have now’ spoken to more than 1000 people in tbeir inquiries. Mr MacDonald has said he believes .the clues to the young Northcote girl’s killer, who left her lying unconscious . in Anzac Street, Takapuna, early

last Saturday morning, lie with the patrons of the Kicks nightclub from the previous night. The Takapuna police returned to the nightclub last evening with prepared questionaires for an estimated 300 more people. Mr MacDonald said yesterday detectives would continue to follow all leads they had discovered before her death. More than 30 policemen have worked on the case for the last week clocking up nearly 2800 hours in their hunt for the killer. At the same time the hunt continues for the killer of Alicia O’Reilly in Avondale. The six-year-old child was found raped and suffocated in the bedroom of her home in Canal Road two Saturdays ago. A police team of 38 is still working long hours on the investigation;