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It’s taken 16 years but the man who lured Kerry Downey into his home under the guise of adopting an unwanted cat has finally revealed why he murdered her.
Ashley Donald Peach told the Parole Board he wasn’t trying to kill the 52-year-old Christchurch woman, he just wantedto commit a crime that would see him sent to prison so he could confront a man who had allegedly wronged him.
Peach was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 13 years in 2009 for Downey’s murder.
A year earlier he called the Cat Protection League employee, to his flat under the pretence of handing over an unwanted cat. Instead, the then 42-year-old tied Downey up and strangled her.
He then used her own car to move her body before dumping it down a bank in the Port Hills.
While Peach pleaded guilty to murder, which a judge suggested was sexually motivated, it was never entirely clear until this week why he had killed Downey as he had never explained his actions.
But yesterday, at his fourth hearing before the board, Peach gave a surprise insight into the murder, saying he’d seen that a person who had hurt him had been sent to prison. He wanted to go there too so committed a crime in the hope of being jailed to the same place as the man.
“I wanted to get back in here and do him,” he told the board.
The board questioned why Peach hadn’t revealed this information at earlier hearings.
“I’ve had it all bottled up in here,” he said “I’ve never brought it properly out.”
Kerry Downey had gone to Peach's flat to pick up an unwanted cat. Photo / Supplied
Peach pleaded guilty 10 days before he was due to stand trial. In the lead up the Crown called evidence from 29 witnesses, some of whom told the court they saw Downey arrive at Peach’s flat carrying a cat cage.
Two men in the flat above Peach’s gave evidence of hearing a woman scream that evening.
When Downey did not arrive at work the next day, her colleagues began making inquiries to find her, including telephoning Peach.
She was linked to the flat by blood and vomit found on three towels at the flat, and three items of clothing and her handbag, wallet, and documents, including her Fly Buys card and her Cats Protection League notebook.
Police noticed scratches on Peach’s arm and there was red hair on the carpet and on adhesive tape found at the flat.
At Peach’s sentencing, Justice Graham Panckhurst said he was in little doubt that the attack was sexually motivated, having described two “intimate injuries” on her body.
Peach’s defence counsel, Pip Hall, said at the time his client had a low IQ bordering on mental impairment and was illiterate. Peach had previous convictions for sexual offending, violence, and the theft of women’s underwear.
Peach wasn’t seeking parole when he appeared this week and just started a six-stage programme recommended by his psychologist.
While inside prison he completed a programme for sexual offenders which he described as having gone well and he was no longer having intrusive thoughts about hurting people.
“I’m just taking it one day at a time in there,” he said when asked about his ongoing treatment.
“I’m slowly getting there.”
The board asked what Peach wanted to do if he was ever deemed ready for release.
Parole was declined and the board will see Peach again in May 2026.
Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.
