Children found dead in Chch flat

Press, 12 April 1988, Page 1

Children found dead in Chch flat

By

NEIL CLARKSON

The bodies of two children were

found in beds in a Salisbury Street flat early yesterday afternoon in what the police are treating as a wouble murder and suicide by their father. . : I

I Lying in the larger of the two bedrooms in the roughcast flat was the body of their father. Beneath him was a .22 calibre rifle. ;

I (Detective Inspector Roger Carson said last evening that no-one else was sought in connection with the deaths, nor in connection with an arson attack on the Papanui home of the children and their! mother shortly before i 9 |a.m. yesterday. ! [The father had custody of the children, a girl and a boy, during the week-end. {The children were Tracey Elizabeth Dunn, aged ! ( eight; and Andrew Stewart James Shanks,

( ( aged ■ four. Their father was Richard John Dunn, aged 39, a beneficiary.

j The police began inquiries after the arson attack which occurred ! sbdn after the mother of the children (left her Bourne Crescent house to go to work. Petrol appeared (to have been poured through the house and set alight, causing a flash fire which burned through most rooms. j Inquiries revealed that Tracey Dunn was not at school and the police, went to Mr Dunn’s flat sbdn after 10.30 a.m. to speak to him. A constable (spoke briefly to Mr] Dunn and soon after heard what sounded like two shots from within the (house. The . police retreated, from the property And the armed offenders squab was called out. | ’ | ' . ; The police cordoned the area while trying to communicate with Mr; Dunn. Telephone calls went unanswered and the police used a loud-hailer in a bid to persuade Mr Dunn to come out. i Just after midday armed police entered the house and found the bodies. Tracey Dunn was lying in bed ini the smaller of the! two bedrooms while Andrew Shanks lay (in! bed in the master bedroom. (Lying in the master bedroom

was [Mr Dunn with the [.22 rifle beneath him. “A second firearm was found in the house but we don’t believe it was used,” said Detective Inspector Carson! ; (

, “It would appear that the children died during the (night, or in the early hours of the morning;! and that Richard Dunn died probably, as near we can put it, between 10.30 a.m. and 10.45 a.m.” j

Detective Inspector; Carson said the police arrived at the flat 'about 10.20 a.m. ( “A policeman saw him (Mr Dunn) very briefly. There was some brief communication, then thej policeman retreated. “One policeman described hearing a sound which seemed like a rifle going off.” I Rost-mortem examinations will be made this morning. ■ I Mr Dunn’s neighbqurs said they had not heard shots during the night or about the, time he was believed to have committed suicide. One said he was too shocked to talk about the incident.

A Bourne Crescent resident who did not wish to be named said he called the Fire Service after noticing the fire about 8.40 a.m. | | !

"I heard this almighty crash. I looked outside and one of the windows had gone. (There was smoke coming out.” I '( He got his garden hose to fight the fire but realised it was too big and called the Fire Service.

The man said the children’s mother was away at work at the time of the blaze. | ‘[‘There was- no-one in there, thank goodness.”

He said the mother lived in the house with the two children.

’‘They were nice little children. I used to speak to them occasionally.”

Mr Dunn was believed to have occasional week-end custody of the children, who did not normally return home until Monday evening.