Girl’s death ‘probably’ was from drowning

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 4

Girl’s death ‘probably’ was from drowning

Post-mortem examination of the body of a young girl who disappeared on her way home, from school last October showed that her death “probably” resulted from drowning, and he could find no signs of sexual molestation, a pathologist told a District Court hearing yesterday.

Leonard Lawrence Tredgold was giving evidence during the third day of a preliminary hearing of charges against Peter . Joseph Holdem, aged 30, unemployed. Holdem is charged with the murder and indecent assault of Louisa Binda Damodran, aged six years 11 months, last October 15.

Louisa’s body was found washed up on the beach near the Waimakariri River mouth on November 5, three weeks after her disappearance.

She had failed to return home from school in Bromley, Christchurch, and the police allege she was picked up by Holdem after school and driven to where she met her death at the Waimakariri River. The hearing, before Judge Pain, will continue today. Messrs G. K. Panck-

hurst and R. E. Neave appear, for the police and Messrs G. R. Lascelles and R. A. Peters for Holdem.

Dr Tredgold gave evidence of conducting a post-mortem examination on the child’s body on November 6. His examination showed no evidence of fractured bones, and the cause of her death was established as probably from drowning.

Cross-examined, Dr Treadgold said advanced decomposition of the body had caused problems in his assessing the condition of the body before its immersion in water. He said he did not find any sighs of sexual molestation of the girl.

He found no evidence of manual strangulation.

Dr Tredgold was asked whether, within the limits imposed by the state of decomposition, he found any obvious signs of physical injury to the girl.

He said he did not. He said he might not have been able to see some soft tissue injuries because of putrefaction. However, there were no injuries to cause fractures of any of the bones of the

trunk or scalp. A beneficiary, whose name was suppressed, said she owned a car, which was black with a light bide top. Holdem bad used this at times. She had frequently gone fishing with him, to Lyttelton, Sumner, Kairaki Beach, and in the Waimakariri River near the railway bridge. On the Wednesday, October 15, she was to have a social worker call at 2.30 p.m. She told Holdem she preferred he was not there when the social worker called.

Holdem got his gear together to go fishing, leaving in her . car. Before he left, she got him to take some, clothes from the car. She later found that the pants part of a child’s rompers was missing.

Holdem returned at 4.30 p.m. or 4.45 p.m. that day. He had two cod.

She asked him to look for the missing pants in the car, but without result. The next day they left for Christchurch, stopping at the Trustbank Canterbury in Kaiapoi on the way.

They were at Pineacres Motor Camp that evening, with a guest, when the

police arrived. • She spoke to the two detectives and then went outside to get Holdem, but could not find him.

‘ Later, through a relative, she learned he was hiding in a paddock at Woodend. She went there and spoke with him. He was very nervy and “hyped up,” and hesitant to return with her to the camp, but did so. She told him the police were inquiring about a missing child, and a person seen floating in the river. Holdem said he knew nothing about it

He returned to the motor camp and the next morning called the police. The woman gave evidence of accompanying Holdem when the police interviewed him, and of herself being interviewed.

She said that on one of these occasions, when she spoke privately with Holdem, he told her he had been nowhere near where the girl had gone missing. He said he had caught the two cod at the boat ramp on the Waimakariri River. He told her he had not been near the school, or cemetery.

The witness said she was present when Holdem was interviewed by a detective. He was in a childlike state and panic stricken, and answered questions very erratically and jabbered a lot She asked him questions on the police’s behalf because he would not answer their questions.

He told her he had picked up the girl near the cemetery, and had taken her to a house at Stewarts Gully.

The witness said this was the house of a person she knew, but which had been vacant for three weeks. She asked him if he had taken the girl. He nodded, indicating he had. They travelled to Stewarts Gully, and Holdem said he had left the girl on the back lawn of the house.

Half-way across the lawn he would not go any further and kept saying: “She’s here.”

Late that evening, by arrangement, they stayed at a motel in Woodend.

When they were' alone she asked him what he had done to the girl. He did not answer. She asked him how he did it and he still did not reply. She told him if he was not going to talk she would go to sleep. He then started talking.

He referred to the three puddles, which she understood as a reference to large puddles on- S bends at Stewarts Gully. The next morning (Monday, October 20) they returned to the Rangiora police station. While they were alone, she told him she was sick of it and wanted to get it over and done with.

Holdem’s response was that he could not talk about it. She suggested he write it and he agreed to. Holdem had then detailed in writing the route he took from the Pineacres Motor Camp to Sumner and then Lyttelton, where he said he caught two fish.

He then retraced the route back, saying he passed a cemetery, saw a girl there, and asked her to hop in. .

He had then travelled with her through New Brighton, North Beach, then to Marshland Road and to Styx Road to look at the river. She stayed in the car.

He drove “through the three puddles” to Stewarts Gully to a house and took the girl to the back.

The witness said Holdem stated he did not remember what happened then.

He said he later went to the boat ... and said did

not know, did not remember. The witness said she thought the reference was to the boat ramp in the Waimakariri River.

Later, she was told he had been arrested for murder. Holdem still did not realise why he had been arrested. He was still “child-like” in his demeanour.

They went in a police car to the Waimakariri River. She stayed in the car while Holdem took the police to where he had taken the girl.

Before his arrest, she had asked him what he had done with the girl’s back-pack. He told her tie had thrown It on a shed behind the Trustbank Canterbury premises in Kaiapoi, on his way home from fishing.

A witness said his wife was related to the previous witness. On the evening of October 16, Holdem called, shaking, excited, and very agitated and told him the police had called at the camp where he was staying. He had “taken off."

The witness went to the camp alone and ascertained from the previous witness why the police sought to question him.

He returned to where Holdem was hiding and told him the police wished to question him about a body in the Waimakariri River.

Holdem replied that he knew nothing about a girl’s body.

The witness said the

answer Holdem gave shocked him as he had not mentioned to Holdem that it was a girl’s body. The witness said he did not know at that stage what type of body was involved. Holdem asked to be taken to Woodend to see a friend there. This mis done and the witness then called at the camp and took the previous witness to where Holdem was. Detective Sergeant Graham Flinders Scott said that on October 19 he spoke to Holdem at the Rangiora Police Station about his movements on October 14. Holdem became evasive and agitated when pressed as to where he had been after going to the Rub-a-Dub car wash in Ferry Road. When questioned about a trip to Lyttelton to fish off cashin Quay, Holdem became angry and said that he was telling the truth.

After Holdem was told that he was lying, he flew into a rage and paced about the room. He was obviously very angry. When he was called a liar he suddenly ran across the room and bashed his head into the wall. Holdem did that three or four times before he could be stopped, Detective Scott said. At 4.35 p.m. Holdem was formally charged with the murder of Louisa Damodran and he started to cry. Asked if he had anything to say in answer to the charge he remained silent