Killer in earlier sex attack

A man jailed yesterday for raping and killing a woman on a West Coast beach last summer was imprisoned 14 years ago for the sexual violation of another woman.

Peter Carrington, 32, was given a life term by Justice Ronald Young in the High Court at Greymouth for the murder of Mya Sollis, 73, at Punakaiki, 40km north of Greymouth, on January 15.

Carrington pleaded guilty to the charge in a two-minute appearance yesterday. He showed no emotion when sentenced.

The judge noted that the Crown had not sought an extended non-parole period and said he also did not see the need for one.

"However, your sexual motivation and offending are factors which should be taken into account by the Parole Board," Justice Young said in his only comment.

In lower court hearings it was disclosed that Carrington suffers from Klinefelter's syndrome, a chromosome problem leading to language difficulties in males.

Court documents show that Carrington was jailed for seven years in August 1988 for sexually violating an 81-year-old woman in his home town of Oamaru.

The victim was beaten over the head with piece of concrete, lapsed into unconsciousness and stayed that way until her death some time later.

Carrington's lawyer claimed at the time that the attack did not kill the woman, and said a pathologist put her death down to hardening of the arteries.

Detective Sergeant Wendy Riach, of Greymouth, said outside the court yesterday that the crucial breakthrough occurred a week after the murder when someone in the Punakaiki area provided Carrington's name as a possible suspect.

The next day Ms Riach received an anonymous, hand-written letter that also named Carrington.

"The man at the Post Office actually hand-delivered the posted letter to me because he felt it seemed so important towards the inquiry."

The person who wrote the letter was not related to Carrington.

Within three days police arrested Carrington in Mid-Canterbury.

Ms Riach said that without the naming of Carrington, police would have struggled to solve the case.

"Although we had a good scene examination, the forensic evidence we had linking Peter Carrington with the terrible crime he had committed was slight."

Ms Riach praised Detective Constable Lindsay Egerton, saying his interview with Carrington was a "masterpiece".

The written confession was crucial in yesterday's guilty plea.

Ms Riach said both families involved were pleased there would not be a trial.

"Throughout this inquiry the Carrington family have tried their hardest to do the right thing. Peter Carrington's family are kind of victims in this as well."

His family had been forced to leave Oamaru after the 1988 crime, she said.

At the depositions hearing last month, the court heard that a Conservation Department staff member found Mrs Sollis' body at Morrisons Beach on January 16.

Mrs Sollis had regularly borrowed an all-terrain vehicle from a nearby farmer to gather driftwood and stones from the beach.

Tourists found the vehicle on the beach with the keys in the ignition early on January 16 .

The DoC worker was moving the machine to a spot above the high-tide mark when he found the body.

Mrs Sollis had been stabbed and her trousers were partly down.

An autopsy revealed she had died of blood loss from 11 stab wounds to the face and neck made by a knife with a small blade. Both eyelids had stab wounds through them.

Carrington's pocket-knife was discovered some days later in the Punakaiki River.

Mrs Sollis' trip to the beach passed a property used by Carrington when he visited the region.

Evidence showed that Carrington watched Mrs Sollis drive past and followed her to the beach. He dragged her into the flax and attacked her.

When Carrington was sentenced in 1988, the judge said it was important that his treatment be continued and that he received counselling.

- NZPA