Police officers escort Bruce Howse to the Masterton courthouse in December 2001. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Police officers escort Bruce Howse to the Masterton courthouse in December 2001. Photo / Mark Mitchell
In 2001 Bruce Thomas Howse murdered his stepdaughters Olympia Jetson and Saliel Aplin as they lay in their beds at their Masterton home.
The girls - aged just 11 and 12 - had suffered years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of Howse and, despite their cries for help, it never came.
Today A Moment In Crime is about the tragic deaths of the young sisters and the impact on their family, particularly their older sister Alicia.
This episode of A Moment In Crime deals with child abuse, sexual assault and murder and may not be suitable for some listeners.
Child Youth and Family sent a letter to the girls' mother, Charlene Aplin, in November 2001, and on December 3 she picked up the phone and responded.
Howse, who had been reading CYF mail sent to his partner about her daughters, killed the girls hours later.
It would later emerge after Howse was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 28 years, that CYF and police had been working with Charlene and her children since the 1980s.
There had been allegations of abuse and violence throughout the years, the children and their mother spent time at women's refuges and the children were also put into the care of their grandparents at one stage.
Bruce Howse the day he was charged with murdering his stepdaughters. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Today Herald senior journalist Anna Leask revisits the terrible crime and the aftermath.
This episode of A Moment In Crime includes harrowing audio from an exclusive interview with Alicia Aplin, the murdered girls' older sister.
Aplin lived with the abuse, her sisters lived with the abuse - they were simply too scared to tell anyone what was happening in their home.
"I knew if I opened my mouth I'd get a hiding," she said.
"It wasn't just a kick up the bum - it was jug cords, belts shoes, kicked to the point you're thrown against a wall, punched in the face ... broken bones.
Alicia Aplin speaking about the murder of her sisters 15 years after the tragedy. Photo / Mark Mitchell
A Moment In Crime is written and hosted by Leask - who has been covering crime and justice for NZME since 2005.
Leask has also reported on most of the major incidents and events in New Zealand during that period including the Christchurch quakes, Pike River mine disaster, March 15 terror attack and the White Island eruption.
"Each month I'll take you inside some of our most infamous incidents, notorious offenders and behind the scenes of high-profile trials and events to show you what's really happening in your backyard," she said.
"Heroes and villains battle for justice to be done, and it seems no matter how horrifying the story, we always want to know more.
"If you want to know more about the cases that have shocked and shaped our nation - from murders and massacres to violent villains and the utterly unbelievable - join me for A Moment In Crime."
In our first episode, we looked back at the Christchurch terror attack - what unfolded on March 15 and how it changed New Zealand.
The podcast has also delved into the death of West Auckland toddler Aisling Symes, the cold case murder of Kayo Matsuzawa, the murder of Feilding farmer Scott Guy, the disappearance of Jim Donnelly at the Glenbrook steel mill, the murders of Grace Millane and the Kahui twins, the killing of Christie Marceau, and double killer Jason Somerville, infamous for the Christchurch House of Horrors.
In 2017, Leask wrote and hosted Chasing Ghosts - a six-part podcast series on the Amber-Lee Cruickshank case.
The South Island toddler disappeared almost 27 years ago from a small town on the shore of Lake Wakatipu.
Despite exhaustive and repeated searches, there has never been any sign of the little girl.
To mark the 25th anniversary of Amber-Lee's disappearance, Leask investigated the famous cold case in a bid to generate some answers for the toddler's family.
