Defence tactic stuns Christie's mum

Christie Marceau was 18 when she was attacked at her family's North Shore home and died in her mother's arms. Photo / Supplied

The family of slain Auckland teenager Christie Marceau are bracing themselves for a double serve of heartbreak as the man charged with kidnapping and later murdering the 18-year-old fights for separate trials.

Tracey Marceau, Christie's mother, says she dreads the day she will have to face in court the man accused of killing her "Princess" and is extremely upset at the prospect of her family going through two trials.

Christie died in Mrs Marceau's arms at their North Shore home in November after a violent attack.

Akshay Chand, then 18, was arrested at the scene and later charged with murder.

He was on bail at the time of Christie's death, and facing a charge of kidnapping her in September.

Yesterday, suppression orders on two further charges were lifted and the Herald can now report that Chand is also facing charges of threatening Christie with grievous bodily harm and assaulting her with intent to commit sexual violation.

Further suppression orders prevent the publication of the specific details, but they relate to the alleged kidnapping.

After extensive reports into Chand's psychiatric state, it was decided he was fit to enter pleas to each charge and stand trial.

His lawyer, Mary Anne Lowe, entered not guilty pleas on all four counts and lodged an application to have separate trials - one for the murder charge and another for the remaining charges.

Mrs Marceau, who is expected to be called as a prosecution witness, said two trials would be extremely hard, and she was unsure how her family would cope with such a difficult process.

"The thought makes me feel really sick. It's going to bring up memories that my counsellors and doctors have been working so hard to relieve," she said.

"Now I've basically got to start from scratch again. I'd started to reach a point in my life where I was dealing with things, now I've got to relive those last few moments of Christie's life.

"To be honest, I don't know how I'm going to deal with that."

Mrs Marceau said the guilt she felt never went away. Two trials would intensify those feelings.

She said it was deeply upsetting to go through it again in one or possibly two trials.

Mrs Marceau said there were things about the day Christie died that she had not talked to her husband Brian or older daughter Heather about. Not telling them the details of what happened to Christie was her way of protecting them from the horror of the day.

"The fact I have to see the accused again is also really daunting. It's enough we've got to live with the fact that we've got a major trial looming, but if they separate them it will just extend this for us. And the pain."

Mrs Marceau said that when she first heard about the pleas she was really upset, but she now was trying to see it as a positive.

"All I could think was that we were going to go down the path of a trial. But, we know then that the truth will come out and people will be able to understand the true extent of what we lived through, and what Christie went through. That to us is really, really important.

"We're more relieved now that it's progressed to the stage of a plea being entered. We're coming up to seven months [since Christie's death]. People don't realise that we're living court date to court date."

And to compound the Marceaus' tragedy, all the court dates so far have tainted special family days, and some to come will also.

Chand appeared in court two days after what should have been Christie's 19th birthday. He will reappear for the trial decision the day before Mr and Mrs Marceau's 27th wedding anniversary. And the fifth day into the October trial will be Mr Marceau's birthday.

"What sort of birthday will that be? Mrs Marceau said. "We're already living a life sentence."