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Angela Blackmoore, 21, a pregnant Christchurch mother, was found dead on the floor of her Wainoni home on August 17, 1995. Her son, Dillon, 2, was asleep in a front bedroom while his mother was killed in a frenzied attack.
A pizza delivery driver believed to be the last person to have seen Angela Blackmoore alive, apart from her killer or killers, told police she seemed “weird”.
In a statement to police the day after Blackmoore’s murder, Stallones Pizza delivery driver Kerry Little told officers: “I remember the woman because she was a bit weird.”
Her statement was read to the jury in the High Court trial of David Peter Hawken, 50, and Rebecca Wright-Meldrum, 51, on Wednesday. Both are charged with Blackmoore’s murder.
Blackmoore, 21, was bludgeoned and stabbed 39 times not long after the pizza was delivered to her Vancouver Cres home in Wainoni, Christchurch, on the evening of August 17, 1995. She was nine weeks’ pregnant.
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The Crown alleges Hawken ordered Blackmoore’s killing by placing a $10,000 bounty on her head, while Wright-Meldrum, Blackmoore’s friend, helped the killer – her then-boyfriend Jeremy Powell – get access to her, and helped him dispose of the murder weapons and clean up the crime scene.
Many years later, Powell confessed to the murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 10-year minimum non-parole period in June 2020 and is to give evidence for the Crown as its star witness.
Little, 22, at the time, took the pizza to the Vancouver Cres house about 8.48pm, where was met by a European woman of medium build with brown hair straight to the collar, wearing a white oversized shirt, her statement said.
“I didn’t have to knock.”
GEORGE HEARD / POOL
David Peter Hawken and Rebecca Wright-Meldrum in the dock during their High Court at Christchurch trial for the 1995 murder of Blackmoore.
The woman had a chequebook in her hand and the cheque was already signed, but the woman said she left the payee blank because she couldn’t spell Stallones.
“I turned the pizza around so she could see the word Stallones. The woman went back inside and filled out the rest of the cheque. I then gave her the pizza and left. I did not go into the house at all,” Little said.
“I remember the woman because she was a bit weird. I’m not sure if it was because she couldn’t spell Stallones or something else.”
Little described being able to hear voices in the background, but was unsure if it was the TV.
ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF
Kerry Little was the last person to see Blackmoore alive, apart from her killer or killers. (File photo)
“I didn’t actually see anyone and the woman didn’t indicate anyone else was there. I couldn’t say if the voices I heard were male or female.”
Little told police she was only at the house for about two minutes. “I remember hearing a special radio programme called “The hot 9 at nine” on the radio, so I was gone by then.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard Blackmoore happily signed an authority of sale contract drawn up by murder accused Hawken for one of her properties weeks before her death, despite the fact she couldn’t read.
Arrests in the cold case that stretched more than two decades followed a Stuff investigation and $100,000 reward that brought forward new evidence and more than 50 tips to police.
Lawyers for the defendants gave brief opening statements on Tuesday.
Stephanie Grieve, KC, who is representing Wright-Meldrum, said the key issue for the jury would be to decide if Powell was a credible and reliable witness, when he said Wright-Meldrum was with him when the murder occurred.
For Hawken, Anne Stevens, KC, said Blackmoore’s murder had all the hallmarks of Powell’s “psychotic episode” and had nothing to do with her client.
The trial continues in front of Justice Cameron Mander.
