Cottam extended their thoughts towards the victims' families and witnesses to the event and said police were assisting them.
The incident unfolded near the Ilam Seventh-day Adventist Church and police are not seeking anyone else in relation to the incident.
Ilam Lifecare manager Maurice David confirmed the woman was one of his employees.
"She has been working with us for a couple of years, she was working in the support services team."
He described her as "well-liked" and said staff had been affected by the loss of a colleague.
"At the moment there is an important focus on the staff, support mechanism are in place."
"Our heart goes out to the family."
Ilam resident Tony Rotherham said he heard a commotion outside his house on Rudleigh Ave about 20 minutes before the incident as he was watching television.
"I had heard a profound amount of yelling for roughly 10 minutes before the incident had supposedly happened but I thought it was no more unusual than what we hear from drunk people on a regular Saturday night.
"After hearing the sirens I went outside to check if everything was okay.
"That's when I was informed by an officer that a domestic disturbance had occurred."
It wasn't until later he read about the "unsettling incident".
He said it has sounded like yelling at first but only after learning what had actually
happened did it occur to him it "sounded different than you would typically expect".
It was something he did not expect in a community like Ilam.
A scene examination was carried out at the Ilam Rd address today and a search warrant was being carried out this afternoon at a property in Kirkwood Ave.
Earlier today Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Anderson said those involved in the incident were known to each other.
The 52-year-old man has been remanded in police custody and is due to reappear in Christchurch High Court on Friday, October 5.
