Christie Marceau cop: Bailing killer 1km from victim 'ridiculous'

Christie Marceau was murdered in November 2011.

The detective who arrested Akshay Chand for kidnapping and assaulting Christie Marceau two months before he stabbed her to death in her North Shore home has described his fight to keep the offender behind bars.

Detective Adam Iremonger is being cross-examined in the Auckland District Court today at the inquest into Christie's death.

The inquest is now in its third day.

Iremonger gave evidence yesterday and is now answering questions from lawyers for other people involved in the inquest, including the Marceau family and Coroner Katharine Greig.

He said it had been "imperative" for police to do all they could to keep Chand behind bars and for police to make the court "totally aware of the tiny distance between the proposed bail address and the victim's address".

They felt he was a danger to Christie, who was "terrified" of her attacker.

The first time Chand appeared in court, Judge Barbara Morris refused bail.

However on October 5, 2011, Judge David McNaughton released the 18-year-old on bail to his family home, just two minutes' walk from the Marceau home.

Iremonger said the first opposition to bail by police was successful and it was their "objective" to keep Chand in custody, primarily to protect Christie but also so the youth, who was clearly troubled, got the help he needed.

When Iremonger learned Chand was applying for bail again, he provided further information to the police prosecutor to bolster the police opposition.

That information included a printed map showing the proximity of the Chand house to the Marceau's home and a transcript of a filmed interview between the offender and police where he made a "full admission" about his attack on Christie.

He said Christie's mother Tracey Marceau was "very, very worried about the situation".

Iremonger left the handling of the bail application to prosecutor Sergeant Rhona Stace.

Prosecutor Adam Pell had handled the initial bail application but Stace was rostered on the day Chand appeared before Judge McNaughton.

Iremonger said he did not go to court that day - police officers generally had other commitments - and left the hearing to Stace.

Before the hearing, the pair and Pell exchanged a series of emails discussing the importance of keeping Chand locked up and away from Christie.

"I remember having a discussion that bail was being looked at being granted at the home address," Iremonger told the inquest.

"Bail that close was absolutely not good enough. They should have been straight onto that.

"One kilometre away. It's ridiculous."

The inquest earlier heard that Stace tried to give Judge McNaughton the additional information but he did not take it.

Stace will give evidence later today about that.

Iremonger said he was disappointed when he heard what had happened in court that day.

"There was not a lot said [by police in court]," he said.

"I was under the impression that we were doing more."

Make sure Chand is "thrashed on bail"

Iremonger also revealed to the inquest that after Judge McNaughton granted Chand bail, he continued to do everything in his power to keep Christie safe.

He earlier said that he had visited Chand shortly after he was released from custody and spoke to the teenager to ensure he understood his bail conditions.

"Chand stated that he had been on his medication and he had been abiding by his bail conditions,' Iremonger told the inquest.

"He said the police had been checking on him two or three times through the night."

Iremonger said he emailed the intelligence officer tasked with overseeing the area where Chand lived about bail checks.

In that email Iremonger asked that Chand be "thrashed on bail checks please".

He requested that at every line up - when police meet at the start of a shift and are briefed about any issues, tasks or offenders they need to keep a close eye on - every officer was made aware of Chand.

He said the term thrashed meant police doing "as many bail checks as they could do" on an offender to make sure they were abiding by their conditions.

"And to show them that we are checking," he said.

"It's a warning for him that he must abide by those conditions and stay at that address."

Iremonger said he did not usually go that far, but felt he had to for Christie.

"It's very rare that I would send [an email] like that - but I could see how risky this situation was and I thought it was necessary," he said firmly.

The inquest continues.