The man was found dead in a Hamilton public toilet. Photo / David Kerr
Police have revealed that a Hamilton man killed inside a city toilet cubicle was bludgeoned to death with a bottle.
Speaking at the scene of Jacques Donker's death this afternoon, Waikato police Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Patterson said a post mortem examination carried out this morning confirmed that he died from blunt force trauma to the head.
He wouldn't comment on the accused's motive but said it appeared to be an "opportunistic crime".
"I think it was an opportunist crime and he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Mr Patterson said events unfolded about 8.45pm when a disturbance was reported to police and subsequently found Mr Donker.
"The man sustained an assault, horrific injuries, causing his death inside one of the cubicles."
Mr Donker's vehicle was stolen and a police chase ensued coming to an end on State Highway 1 at Mercer after road spikes were deployed.
No vehicles or people were injured during the arrest.
"Despite the arrest there's a significant amount of work to do and finalise what happened here and what the events were on Monday night and therefore we are still asking for public assistance in relation to movements people in the city on Monday night. We would like to hear from anyone who was on Victoria St, between Hood and London Sts and who may have confronted by a man who was accompanied by two woman."
Police also wanted to hear from a man that accompanied a man and another woman to the Thirsty Liquor shop on Peachgrove Rd on Monday night.
A woman will appear in court on Friday facing a charge of unlawfully getting into a stolen motor vehicle.
Homeless man Lindsay Evans discovered Mr Donker's body and called emergency services.
Jacques Donker had already endured a tough life.
He was operating on one lung after winning his recent battle with lung cancer, but his life had never been that easy for him, his cousin, Harry Donker told the Herald yesterday.
Mr Donker was found dead, brutally beaten in the public toilets in London St, Hamilton on Monday night.
A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with his murder and received name interim suppression when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Tuesday.
He was remanded in custody to reappear in the High Court at Hamilton next month.
While the pair hadn't seen each other since the funeral of Jacques' mother a couple of years ago, Mr Donker said he had lost touch with him, with the pair living different lives.
Most Donker's in New Zealand were related as they were connected to one of three Donker brothers - including Jacques and Harry's fathers - that began emigrating into the country from about the late 1940s.
Mr Donker, who lives on a rural property east of Hamilton, said his family arrived in the 1960s and said Jacques' family arrived in the mid 1950s settling in the Waikato.
Jacques was one of five siblings, which also included Colin, Barbera, Janet and Sara, most of whom still live in and around Hamilton.
All the siblings were today gathering at Barbera's Hamilton home as they prepared for their brother's funeral. Their parents had since passed away.
Mr Donker, a retired mechanic, said before they emigrated to New Zealand they were neighbours growing up in the Netherlands.
"But in recent years we haven't had much to do with one another," the 72-year-old said.
He believed Jacques had been unemployed in recent times, but many years ago used to be a commuter bus driver in Auckland for the ALA and also used to work in Hamilton.
He didn't have any children and had never married and was regarded as the "black sheep" of the family, he said.
"He had a pretty horrible life. Right from a child, his father was always very hard on him, he was always very abusive and Jacques was always the black sheep of the family. He's had a very sad life, I feel."
For all he'd been through, Mr Donker said Jacques was a "different", yet friendly person who would help anybody out.
"He certainly wasn't off-putting as far as his nature goes, he was not nasty, he was a very peaceful guy.
"A couple of years ago he had lung cancer and they had taken one of his lungs out and it would have been much nicer if he passed away then, rather than what's happened to him now. It's terrible."
Jacques' sister Barbera declined to comment but confirmed that family were gathering at her house in preparation for her brother's funeral.