Axe-slaying 'murderer's hut' hauled from site near Waipawa in Hawke's Bay

The so-called "murderer's hut" just south of Waipawa Bridge on the back of a truck ready to be removed last week. Photo / Clinton Llewellyn

A dark piece of Hawke's Bay history has been moved out of sight.

Last sold in 2016, a small cottage located just south of Waipawa Bridge - the so-called "murderer's hut" after it was the scene of an axe attack in 1994 which left one person dead - was last week put on the back of a truck and removed from its prominent site along SH2, next to the turn-off to Tapairu Rd.

Despite its dark history, there was plenty of interest when the rustic but run-down cottage - noted over the years for its attractive, well-tended roses and the roaming pigs belonging to the previous owner - was placed on the market two years ago.

Sitting on a half-hectare section and believed to have been built in the early 1900s, it was eventually bought at auction for $92,000 by a couple from Otane.

The couple said they were aware of "all the stories" associated with the property, but they had not been put off from living in it because of its macabre past.

Instead, the cottage had simply proved to be a renovator's nightmare.

"It was just a project too far," said the husband. "We had all good intentions of doing it up, but it turned out she needed far more work than we anticipated."

The couple had not sold the property but instead did a deal with a house removal company which, in exchange for the cottage, had agreed to remove it and then move a new dwelling onto the property that the couple intended to move into.

The man believed the company had plans to renovate the cottage and then on-sell it.

"It's nice to think it will get a second lease of life," the man said.

He and his wife hoped to be living in their new home by Christmas.

"It will be nice to have some land again and be able to get our animals back."

In 1994 a man died from wounds inflicted with an axe at the cottage.

A murder case was first heard before the High Court of Napier in 1995, but after an appeal in 1996 a mistrial was declared.

The defendant later had a murder sentence quashed, and was instead found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison.

Property Brokers Waipukurau agent Matt Oliver, who marketed the cottage in 2016, admitted even he was surprised by the level of interest in the property at the time.

"We were unbelievably surprised, given its history.

"Everyone who came through to view it referenced it as the 'murderer's hut'," said Oliver, who heard many varied theories about what had happened at the cottage back in 1994, including that it involved a dispute about money owing over a car.

"In the end, I couldn't get a grip on what was true. Having said that, it didn't put anyone off - it was a highly-contested property.

"Though I have to say most people were more interested in the business enterprise opportunities offered by [the property's] high-profile site, rather than people wanting to live in it," Oliver said.