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The Veil
E45 | The Gatton Murders (AUS)
Season 1, Ep. 45
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There was no Australia yet. Six British colonies, six sets of laws, and a farming town of fewer than five hundred people west of Brisbane. On Boxing Day 1898, Michael Murphy and his sisters Norah and Ellen drove ten kilometres into Gatton for a dance that had been cancelled. They turned for home and never arrived. The next morning their brother-in-law followed the tracks of his own sulky into a paddock and found all three dead, arranged in a triangle with a shot horse, their feet pointing west. Within hours, forty townspeople had walked across the only evidence there would ever be. No one was ever charged.
A NOTE ON SOURCING
Every person named in this episode died more than a century ago. No one was ever charged with the murders of Michael, Norah and Ellen Murphy. No coroner or court has ever made a finding as to who was responsible, and the case remains formally unsolved.
Thomas Day, Richard Burgess and William McNeill are named because each was publicly investigated at the time and named in the 1899 Royal Commission material and the Queensland Police Museum's own account. None was ever charged. Nothing here should be taken as a finding against any of them.
A man was charged in relation to the death of Alfred Stephen Hill at Oxley in December 1898. That indictment was not proceeded with, and that killing is also unsolved. He is not named here, and some widely-circulated sources are wrong to state the matter as settled.
The two sisters were sexually assaulted before they were killed. That is stated plainly in the episode and not described in detail.
Where testimony reaches us through a stenographer, then a book, then a retelling, it is described rather than quoted, and the episode says so on air. Direct quotation is confined to the Royal Commission's published findings and to Frederic Urquhart's own published verse. Single-source material — the calibre of the recovered bullets, the reported cry of "Father!", and the conclusion that more than one attacker was involved — is attributed as such.
SOURCES
Queensland Police Museum, "The Gatton Murders of 1898" — police.qld.gov.au/museum
1899 Royal Commission into the Queensland Police Force — testimony, post-mortem evidence and recommendations (archived copies linked at brevityplus.com)
The Telegraph (Brisbane), "Gatton Tragedy", 4 January 1899 — the £1,000 reward — nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173352686
Toowoomba Chronicle, "Police Inquiry", 5 December 1899 — nla.gov.au/nla.news-article217713782
The West Australian, "Suicide in Sydney — The Deceased and the Gatton Tragedy", 27 Oct 1900, and "The Oxley Murder — The Inquest", 18 Feb 1899 — both via Trove
Queensland State Archives — "Police Detectives and trackers in Blackfellow Creek, Gatton, c 1899"
Australian Dictionary of Biography — W. Ross Johnston on Frederic Charles Urquhart
Queensland Places (University of Queensland) — "Gatton"
Stephanie Bennett, The Gatton Murders (Pan Macmillan, 2004) and The Killer with 300 Names (2013)
Raymond Evans, A History of Queensland (Cambridge, 2007)
With thanks to the Queensland Police Museum and to the National Library of Australia's Trove — without Trove, the 1899 press record would be out of reach to anyone outside a reading room.
SUPPORT
This episode deals with sexual violence and, in its closing section, with suicide. If any of it lands close to home: Australia — Lifeline 13 11 14, Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636, 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732. New Zealand — 1737, Safe to Talk 0800 044 334.
Written and hosted by Ryan Wolf. Researched and produced with AI assistance — I use it to help me find and check the record, and I go through everything before it reaches you.
While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.
If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com
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This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.
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55. E55 | How did she Fall? The Case of Warriena Wright and Gable Tostee (NZ/AUS)
37:58||Season 1, Ep. 55Warriena Tagpuno Wright was 26, a New Zealander, and had flown to Queensland for a friend's wedding. In the early hours of 8 August 2014 she fell 14 floors from a balcony at the Avalon apartments in Surfers Paradise. Almost the entire night had been recorded on the phone of the man she had met that evening — hours of audio, later played to a jury in Brisbane. In October 2016 Gable Tostee was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter. Two months later the Queensland State Coroner reopened the coronial investigation into how she died. Nearly ten years on, no finding has been published.A NOTE ON SOURCINGGable Tostee was tried in the Supreme Court of Queensland and acquitted of murder and of manslaughter on 20 October 2016. He has never been convicted of any offence in relation to Warriena Wright's death, and this episode does not suggest he should have been. The defence case is set out at length, including evidence from the recording of Warriena's own conduct that night. Nothing about his life after the verdict appears in the episode; that is a deliberate editorial decision, stated on air.A sound described as choking-like is audible on the recording. The pathologist, Dr Dianne Little, found reddening around Warriena's neck but considered it more likely caused by the fall than by strangulation, and found no internal neck injury. Those two pieces of evidence sit together in the episode and have never been publicly reconciled.A coroner in Queensland cannot find that anyone is guilty of an offence or civilly liable. The reopened coronial investigation was never a second prosecution.The statement that no coronial finding has been published is based on a direct search of the Coroners Court of Queensland findings archive and its inquest proceedings list, both checked on 20 August 2026. Not every coronial investigation produces a published document, so this establishes that nothing is publicly available — not that nothing was done.SOURCESABC News trial coverage, October 2016, including "The Tinder date and the fatal fall" (20 Oct 2016) and the pathology evidence (13 Oct 2016): abc.net.auABC News, "Plea for help from sister of Warriena Tagpuno Wright", 14 Aug 2014RNZ court reporting: "Tostee trial: Jury hears Warriena Wright's last words"; "Warriena Wright had 80 injuries after balcony fall, court told"; "Gable Tostee found not guilty of killing Warriena Wright": rnz.co.nzThe New Daily, "Coroner reopens investigation into Warriena Wright balcony death", 18 Dec 2016Coroners Court of Queensland — findings archive, inquest proceedings list, and guidance on coroners' powers: coronerscourt.qld.gov.auSUPPORTThis episode deals with a violent death, family violence and alcohol.New Zealand: 1737 (call or text, any time) · Family violence 0800 456 450 · Women's Refuge 0800 REFUGE · Alcohol Drug Helpline 0800 787 797Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 · Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
54. E54 | Finding Alysha (NZ/USA)
41:42||Season 1, Ep. 54On 10 December 2001, her 24th birthday, Alysha Krsangi Hanin flew out of New Zealand for Florida, having just left her three-year-old son with his grandmother. The plan was to collect her things in Miami and come home to raise him here. Four weeks later, in the small hours of Sunday 6 January 2002, she left the Shore Club hotel on Collins Avenue to get something to eat, and was never seen again. Her passport, purse, luggage, ID and credit cards were still in her room. Nobody reported her missing for three weeks. In the 24 years since: no verified sighting, no activity on her accounts. Police suspect foul play. Nobody has ever been charged.IF YOU KNOW SOMETHINGMiami Beach Police confirm the case is active. Her family asks five questions:Did you know Alysha — as Alysha, Krsangi or Yami — in Miami, Los Angeles, or within the Hare Krishna community, before 2002?Were you at or near the Shore Club on Collins Avenue in early January 2002 — including working there, on the door, valet, desk, housekeeping or bar?Do you remember seeing or hearing from her, anywhere, after 6 January 2002?Do you have photographs, letters or recordings in which she appears?Did anyone you know ever speak about her disappearance, then or since?Crime Stoppers of Miami-Dade: 305-471-TIPS (anonymous)Miami Beach Police Department: 305-673-7900 — case 2002-3368Florida Dept of Law Enforcement: 1-888-FL-MISSING (1-888-356-4774)Tips direct to her family, anonymously if you wish: findingalysha.comA NOTE ON SOURCINGNobody has ever been arrested, charged or named. Alysha Hanin is legally a missing person: no finding of death, no inquest, no judgment anywhere in this case. "Foul play is suspected" is Miami Beach Police's published position, not a finding.The episode refers to a former boyfriend who spoke briefly to the family's private investigator and then left the state. He has never been named, arrested or charged, and nothing in the record suggests any involvement. He is not named or described here, and no inference should be drawn.Almost everything known about the New Zealand end comes from two articles by one reporter — Katie Ham at Stuff, Jan 2024, republished by RNZ: one outlet, not two. The Miami reporting is Miami Herald copy syndicated across several sites, plus independent television reporting by Bridgette Matter at WPLG Local 10.The episode mentions that Alysha told her family she had been invited to party on Jeffrey Epstein's island. That comes from a single outlet, is an account of things she said, has never been tested, names or implicates no one, and is not connected to her disappearance.Cilla Senk's account of clothing returned to her that she did not recognise is her account, not a forensic finding; nothing indicates it was ever examined. Her recollection of a call with Interpol in Wellington is her own account, unanswered by any agency. Sources conflict on when she left the hotel and why she was in Miami; the episode sets out both and resolves neither.SOURCESKatie Ham, Stuff, 18 & 27 Jan 2024 (also on RNZ): stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350152238Bridgette Matter, WPLG Local 10, 13 Aug 2026: local10.comMiami Herald, Jan 2024 and 15 Aug 2026NamUs MP19635: namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP19635The Charley Project: charleyproject.org/case/alysha-krsangi-haninThe family's site: findingalysha.comSUPPORTThis episode deals with a disappearance, sexual exploitation and drug use.New Zealand: 1737 (call or text, any time) · Safe to Talk 0800 044 334 · Alcohol Drug Helpline 0800 787 797 · Women's Refuge 0800 REFUGEAustralia: Lifeline 13 11 14 · Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
52. E52 | The Murder of Elly Warren (AUS)
41:32||Season 1, Ep. 52Elly Warren was 20, from Mordialloc in Melbourne, six weeks into a marine conservation placement and days from flying home to study marine biology. On the night of 8 November 2016 she was last seen outside a bar in Tofo, about half past eleven. At five the next morning a fisherman found her beside a public toilet block less than forty metres away, face down, her clothing disturbed, her airways packed with sand. Three autopsies in three countries reached three different conclusions. Her clothes were incinerated without being tested. Nearly ten years on, nobody has been charged, and the sand has never been compared.IF YOU KNOW SOMETHINGNo reward has ever been offered in this case. If you were in Tofo on the night of 8 November 2016, worked there, or were told something afterwards, the family are still asking.Elly's father maintains the case archive and a contact page: ellywarren.netIn Australia, information can be passed anonymously to Crime Stoppers — 1800 333 000 — or through the AFP's online reporting form at afp.gov.auThe questions still open: whether the golden beach sand in Elly's airways came from somewhere other than the dark grey ground she was found on; whether she died at that spot or was moved there; and who was near the market and the bar between 11.30pm and 5am.A NOTE ON SOURCINGNobody has ever been charged over Elly Warren's death, and no person is named as a suspect in this episode. No private individual is named at all.On 15 December 2023 the State Coroner of Victoria, Judge John Cain, found Elly died from aspiration of sand into her lungs. He could not establish how it got there, could not determine whether she died where she was found, and could not establish whether she was sexually assaulted, though he accepted it was possible. He made NO finding of homicide — he found it possible that a person or persons unknown caused or contributed to her death. Mozambique refused to provide its evidence brief to the court.The opinions of retired homicide detective Charlie Bezzina, and the beliefs of Elly's father, are given as opinion and belief. They are not findings.Material concerning the crime-scene photographs, the position of Elly's body and the state of her shirt comes from documents obtained by Paul Warren. It is untested and no court has ruled on it.Much of the detail of Elly's last evening rests on the reporting of a single outlet. The coronial findings are reported here from news coverage; the finding document itself is not published online.SOURCESmarie claire Australia — "Mozambique Murder: What Really Happened To 20 Year Old Aussie, Elly Warren?" The most detailed reporting on this case anywhere.The New Daily (AAP), 15 December 2023 — the coronial findings.The Canberra Times (AAP) — inquest evidence of David Cafarella, AFP Commander Andrew Smith and honorary consul Blake Gray.Club of Mozambique — Mozambican police homicide classification, August 2023.Now to Love, Sarah Marinos — interview with Paul Warren.ellywarren.net — Paul Warren's case archive: the three autopsies, the 2019 radiological review, and the Elly Warren Protocol."Hunting Elly's Killer: A father's relentless pursuit of justice" by Paul Warren, Simon & Schuster Australia, 2026.SUPPORTThis episode deals with the violent death of a young woman and with a suspected sexual assault.Australia — 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732. Lifeline: 13 11 14. Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636.New Zealand — Safe to Talk: 0800 044 334. Need to talk? Free call or text 1737.Narrated by Ryan Wolfwww.brevityplus.com
51. E51 | The Whiskey Au Go Go Murders (AUS)
33:02||Season 1, Ep. 51At 2.08am on 8 March 1973, two drums of petrol were lit in the foyer beneath the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub. Fifteen people died upstairs of carbon monoxide poisoning, in a first-floor room with one obstructed exit. Every one of them was dead before the fire brigade arrived. And months earlier, a career criminal named John Andrew Stuart had told a journalist — who printed it, and who personally warned the Police Commissioner and the Police Minister — that an empty club would be firebombed first, and then the Whiskey Au Go Go would be burned while it was full of people. On 25 February an empty club burned. Eleven days later, so did the Whiskey.A NOTE ON SOURCINGJames Finch and John Stuart were convicted in October 1973 of one murder — that of Jennifer Denise Davie, 17. The other fourteen charges were never proceeded with. Stuart died in Boggo Road Gaol in January 1979. Finch was released in 1988 and deported to England, where he confessed to a British newspaper and retracted within a day. He died of Covid in London, and the reopened inquest was told of his death on the opening day of its second tranche.Police fabricated the evidence used to arrest Stuart. That is not in dispute. Finch was convicted largely on a typewritten record of a police interview that he never signed, in Queensland, in the years before the Fitzgerald Inquiry examined that police force.A coronial inquest was reopened in 2017 and sat from June 2021 into 2022 — 30 days, more than 65 witnesses, over 2,000 exhibits — hearing credible evidence that Finch and Stuart did not act alone. As at the time of recording, the coroner's findings had not been delivered.At a 2017 Supreme Court sentencing for the murders of Barbara McCulkin and her daughters, Vincent O'Dempsey told the court he had nothing to do with the Whiskey firebombing, and Justice Peter Applegarth said there was available evidence to the contrary. That is reported here as what was said in open court. It is not a finding about the fire. Mr O'Dempsey has never been charged over the Whiskey Au Go Go and denies any involvement in it. No other person is named in this episode in connection with the fire.Two motives have been argued for fifty years — an extortion campaign, which is what the 1973 jury accepted, and an insurance fraud that went wrong. Neither has been established.SOURCESGeoff Plunkett, The Whiskey Au Go Go Massacre: Murder, Arson and the Crime of the Century (Big Sky Publishing, 2018) — written with access to the original police filesMatt Condon, 'What really happened at the Whiskey Au Go Go?', Courier-Mail, 4 March 2023'Secrets of Whiskey may never come out', Courier-Mail, 8 March 2023Both archived at whiskeyfire.infoContemporaneous reporting: The Age, 9 and 13 March 1973; 7 January 1974; 2 January 1979; 6 June and 7 July 1984. The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 October 1966; 9 May 1974; 10 February 1984; 24 November 1988.Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience, Whiskey Au Go-Go nightclub bombing 1973Monument Australia — Whiskey Au Go Go Fire VictimsSUPPORTThis episode deals with mass killing, self-harm and death in custody.Australia — Lifeline: 13 11 14. Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636.New Zealand — Need to talk? Free call or text 1737.www.brevityplus.com
49. E49 | How does it Feel to Hug a Murderer? (NZ)
39:21||Season 1, Ep. 49In July 2011 Bruce Mouat came home drunk from a work function at 1am. Workmates walked him to his own front door. Minutes later he went backwards down the concrete steps outside it. He was 48, worked at the local dairy factory, and led the Taranaki Alpine and Cliff Rescue team. He died in Wellington Hospital eleven days later. Police considered homicide and ruled it out. A coroner found no foul play. At the tangi, his sister told police, his wife had hugged her and asked how it felt to hug a murderer — and the finding was accidental death regardless. It took five more years, and her own friends going to police about what she had been telling them, before Susan Mouat admitted she had pushed him. No new evidence was ever found.IN MEMORYBruce Mouat led the Taranaki Alpine and Cliff Rescue team, volunteers who turn out for people in trouble on a mountain that has killed more than eighty people since the 1890s. If this episode stays with you, the volunteer search and rescue teams in your region are worth a thought.A NOTE ON SOURCINGSusan Mouat pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was convicted. She was never charged with murder, and the Crown accepted she did not intend to kill her husband. All proceedings, including her sentence appeal, concluded in December 2017.Because she pleaded guilty, there was no trial. Her account that she pushed him in self-defence has never been tested by cross-examination, and no court has made findings of fact about what happened at that door. Between 2011 and 2016 she gave police three statements denying involvement before admitting it. Only the final version has ever been accepted, and it was accepted unchallenged. In that account she alleges Bruce was behaving abusively that night. That allegation has never been tested, he cannot answer it, and his family have never accepted it.Her confession is quoted from a transcript released to the Weekend Herald and reported by Kelly Dennett. The remark at the tangi is a witness's recollection recorded in a coronial finding, not a recording. Susan Mouat told the coroner she could not remember saying it, and that if she did, it was black humour.Much of the direct quotation in this episode comes from journalists reporting from court, some of it from a single outlet. Bruce and Susan Mouat's daughter is named in a public judgment; she is not named here, and will not be.No detailed post-mortem or scene evidence in this case has ever been made public.SOURCESExclusive: What Susan Mouat told police about husband's death / Son of Bruce Mouat breaks his silence — NZ Herald and Herald on Sunday, Kelly Dennett, 2017Couple had rocky past before fatal fall — RNZ, 13 October 2017rnz.co.nz/news/national/341480Wife's guilty plea six years after death — Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 2017, reporting by David Burroughspressreader.com/new-zealand/taranaki-daily-news/20170905/281479276561336Fall death ruled accidental — despite wife's quip — NZ Herald, February 2012Home detention for Susan Mouat / Appeal denied — NZ Herald, 2017Son of Taranaki manslaughter victim awarded thousands by court — Stuff, 2018Estate: Kawana-Mouat v Mouat, High Court, 17 July 2018 — summarised at nzbloglex.blogspot.comSentencing Act 2002, s 15A (home detention) — legislation.govt.nzSUPPORTThis episode deals with family violence, alcohol dependence and a death in the home.New Zealand — Family violence: 0800 456 450. Women's Refuge: 0800 REFUGE. Alcohol Drug Helpline: 0800 787 797. Need to talk? Free call or text 1737.Australia — 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732. Lifeline: 13 11 14.
48. E48 | The Luna Park Ghost Train Fire (AUS)
49:12||Season 1, Ep. 48On a quiet winter Saturday in 1979, three separate passengers rode the Ghost Train at Sydney's Luna Park, saw a small fire burning inside an imitation fireplace, and thought it was part of the show. Minutes later the ride was an inferno. Seven people died: John Godson and his two young sons, and four Waverley College schoolboys. A fifth boy was lifted out of his carriage seconds before it went in. The coroner could not say how the fire started. Forty-seven years on, a police report sits suppressed, a million-dollar reward stands unclaimed, and the State Coroner has still not decided whether to ask the question again.A $1,000,000 reward remains on offer from the NSW Government and NSW Police for information about the Ghost Train fire. It is unusual, and worth understanding: it does not require the charge or conviction of any person. It is offered for information alone.Strike Force Sedgeman, run by the Homicide Squad's Unsolved Homicide Team, has reviewed the case. Investigators have asked for anything about that night, including:* the group of five men in distinctive motorcycle clothing seen near the Ghost Train shortly before the fire, who left the park quickly as it took hold and were never traced* the smell of kerosene reported around the ride by several people* anything from anyone who gave a statement to police in 1979 and was never called to the inquest* anything about the conduct of the original police investigationCrime Stoppers: 1800 333 000\[nsw.crimestoppers.com.au](https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au)\Information is treated in strict confidence. Police ask that you do not report information via their social media pages.**A NOTE ON SOURCING**Nobody has ever been charged over this fire. Abe Saffron, Detective Inspector Douglas Knight, Jack Rooklyn and Neville Wran are all deceased and none was ever charged in connection with it. No court has made any finding against any of them in relation to the fire.The allegation that Saffron ordered the fire came from an anonymous source in the ABC's 2021 series and was assessed by independent reviewers as essentially hearsay. The 1981 accusations that Knight took bribes were never tested or proved. Separate and on the public record: in 1974 Justice Athol Moffitt condemned Knight for dishonesty in evidence to his royal commission.On Neville Wran we have followed the independent review commissioned by the ABC and conducted by Rodney Tiffen and Chris Masters, which found no evidence he interfered in the Luna Park lease decision and found the series' suggestion of a direct link between him and Saffron misleading. The same reviewers found the fire was, on the balance of probabilities, arson, and that the police investigation was inadequate and corrupted.The investigation remains open.**SOURCES**Coroner Kevin Anderson, Inquiry into the fire and deaths at Luna Park, findings 3 September 1979 — [coroners.nsw.gov.au](https://coroners.nsw.gov.au)\ABC Editorial Review 25: Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire, Rodney Tiffen and Chris Masters, August 2021\ABC News, "Accident or arson?" — Meldrum-Hanna, Begley, Karagic, Balendra, 2021\NSW Police Force, $1m reward — [police.nsw.gov.au](https://police.nsw.gov.au)\AAP, Miklos Bolza, 10 September 2024\Dictionary of Sydney; Australasian Leisure Management; The Conversation**SUPPORT**This episode concerns the deaths of children and the grief of the families left behind. If it lands heavily: Australia — Lifeline 13 11 14, Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636. New Zealand — call or text 1737.
44. E44 | The Murder of Pauline Sowry (AUS)
44:23||Season 1, Ep. 44Pauline Sowry was 49 when she had lunch with her son at a Warrawong pub in December 1993. Her family never saw her again. A coroner found she had died but could not say how, when or where. Thirty years later a witness led police into bushland at Figtree, where they dug up a blouse she had stitched herself. In January 2026 the only charges ever laid in connection with her death were withdrawn. Nobody has ever been convicted. Police say there are people in the Illawarra who know exactly what happened.IF YOU KNOW SOMETHINGA $500,000 reward remains open for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.Crime Stoppers — 1800 333 000 — anonymousWollongong Police — (02) 4226 7899Police especially want to hear about two things:A cream-coloured, button-down, long-sleeved blouse with a hand-stitched design in coloured cotton, believed added by Pauline herself. Images were released by NSW Police in December 2024.A white 1968-model Holden HK Kingswood sedan, in pristine condition, reportedly seen carrying Pauline south of Wollongong after she disappeared.A NOTE ON SOURCINGAll charges against the man named in this episode were withdrawn by the DPP on 28 January 2026. No court has ever made a finding against him, he has never been convicted of any offence connected to Pauline's death, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Nobody has ever been charged with her murder.Where this episode describes covert police recordings, those descriptions come from what the Crown told a bail hearing they contained, as reported by one journalist present in court. We have not heard the recordings and neither has anyone outside that courtroom, so they are described rather than quoted. The defence disputed their accuracy and context. None of it was tested at trial.Strike Force Anthea remains open.SOURCESNSW Police — reward appeal and case summarypolice.nsw.gov.au/can_you_help_us/rewards/500000_reward/disappearance_of_pauline_sowryThe Illawarra Mercury is the only outlet that covered the court proceedings in this case, and the reason it is still being talked about.Jason Lawrence on his mother — who Pauline actually was. Read this one.illawarramercury.com.au/story/8707899Clothing unearthed at Figtree, December 2024illawarramercury.com.au/story/8841308Charges withdrawn, January 2026illawarramercury.com.au/story/9162611SUPPORTThis episode discusses suicide.Lifeline (AU) 13 11 14 · Beyond Blue (AU) 1300 22 4636 · New Zealand: free call or text 1737
43. E43 | The Masterton Massacre
42:50||Season 1, Ep. 43On a winter Friday night in 1992, Raymond Ratima let himself into his in-laws' house on Judds Road, Masterton, with a key he had taken when he was told to leave. He waited forty-five minutes. Then he killed seven members of his own family — including his three small sons and a woman a month from giving birth — before lying in wait in the dark for the rest of them to come home. He pleaded guilty. He has never been released. And across thirty-four years, fourteen parole boards, a High Court judgment and the country's best forensic psychiatry, nobody has been able to answer the only question that matters: why.Sources used:Court and official recordsRatima v The New Zealand Parole Board [2024] NZHC 613 (Preston J, 20 March 2024) — https://thelawassociation.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Ratima-v-Parole-Board.pdfNew Zealand Parole Board, decision of 12 March 2024 — https://www.paroleboard.govt.nz/decisions/decisions_2024/raymond_wahia_ratima_12032024Parole Act 2002 — https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0010/latest/DLM137632.htmlSentencing Act 2002, s 103 — https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0009/latest/DLM136499.htmlContemporaneous reporting"Man charged over massacre of seven," UPI, 26 June 1992 — https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/06/26/Man-charged-over-massacre-of-seven/7593709531200/History and reference"Masterton massacre, 1992," NZHistory, Manatū Taonga — https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/masterton-massacre"Mass homicides since 1990," Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand — https://teara.govt.nz/en/violent-crime/page-6Later reportingNikki Macdonald, "Faces of Innocents: The Ratima massacre — remembering the children of Judds Rd," Stuff, 23 July 2016 — https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/81305979/faces-of-innocents-the-ratima-massacre--remembering-the-children-of-judds-rd"Mass murderer believed he was 'putting them in a better place'," NZ Herald, 2017 — https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mass-murderer-believed-he-was-putting-them-in-a-better-place/SYPSCTINWHZJSKXKURBIXI7W5M/"Mass murderer Raymond Ratima to have opportunity to apply for parole again," RNZ, 21 March 2024 — https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/512331/mass-murderer-raymond-ratima-to-have-opportunity-to-apply-for-parole-againMelissa Nightingale, "Mass murderer denied parole for 16th time, reveals motive for killing his kids," NZ Herald / Newstalk ZB, 24 July 2025 — https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/crime/mass-murderer-raymond-wahia-ratima-denied-parole-explains-why-he-killed-seven-people/"No parole for Raymond Ratima who murdered seven in Masterton," Stuff, January 2026 — https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360931145/no-parole-raymond-ratima-who-murdered-seven-masterton