NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Lundy murders: Business associate visited and threatened by angry creditors hours before murders

Kurt Bayer
By Kurt Bayer
South Island Head of News·NZ Herald·
2 Oct, 2020 12:00 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Mark Lundy was found guilty of the murder of his wife and daughter for the second time in 2015. The jury - which deliberated for 16 hours over more than two days - returned the unanimous verdicts at a packed High Court at Wellington. Video / Mark Mitchell

A friend and business associate of Mark Lundy was visited and threatened by angry creditors just hours before his wife and child were murdered.

The associate was so concerned by the two creditors' presence at his rural North Island home on August 29, 2000, that police were called.

The men urgently wanted a $16,000 deposit for supplying $70,000 of grapevine root cuttings, which were planned to be treated and on-sold for $550,000 to Lundy for his Hawke's Bay vineyard venture.

The mystery man later admitted under oath he felt "intimidated" by one of the men who was "considerably taller and heavier than myself".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They "got a bit snaky" and tried to take root stock out of a chiller unit, he claimed.

The Lundy family: Christine, Mark and their daughter Amber. Photo / File
The Lundy family: Christine, Mark and their daughter Amber. Photo / File

Official police records show they were called at 10.43am on August 29 "to attend grape cuttings being stolen".

Two local police constables visited the property.

But they were satisfied it was a civil, commercial matter which did not require police involvement. They didn't take any personal details.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A job sheet entry by one of the police constables, seen by the Herald, says: "Both parties seemed amicable and there was no suggestion of any violence being threatened or used. It appeared to me that the owner/manager just wanted some advice on what the seller could or could not do."

The creditors reportedly got a $16,000 cheque and left.

Hours later, Lundy's wife Christine, 38, and 7-year-old daughter Amber were butchered with an axe or tomahawk inside their Karamea Crescent, Palmerston North home.

The stunning revelations come 20 years after the murders.

Discover more

New Zealand

'My parents are looking for me': Father of missing teen's plea on son's birthday

01 Oct 01:00 AM
Opinion

Grant Illingworth: The last seduction of David Seymour

01 Oct 04:00 PM
Opinion

Cannabis referendum: 10 pros and cons of legalising drug

01 Oct 02:51 AM
New Zealand|crime

Comancheros trial: Crown makes its closing argument

01 Oct 11:30 PM

The business associate – who died five years ago – was granted name suppression at Lundy's original 2002 double-murder trial.

The Herald this year applied to the High Court in Palmerston North to have the name suppression lifted, arguing the original reasons for the judge to grant the decision were no longer relevant.

Mark Lundy outside the High Court in Wellington in 2015.
Mark Lundy outside the High Court in Wellington in 2015.

The application was opposed by the man's surviving family.

Palmerston North Crown Solicitor Ben Vanderkolk took a neutral position on the Herald's application.

Lundy's lawyer supported the application.

Today, the matter was heard by Justice Rebecca Edwards.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

After a hearing at the High Court in Wellington, she reserved her decision.

Long-time Lundy supporter, Auckland businessman Geoff Levick, says police failed to properly investigate the fact creditors showed up at a close business associate of Lundy's on the day of the murders.

Levick says it was a remarkable "coincidence" that was shockingly overlooked by police.

On the afternoon the creditors showed up, the man phoned Christine, who oversaw the paperwork side of Lundy's business affairs, "to put her in the picture" about what had just happened.

And later that night, he also phoned Lundy - who said he was away in Wellington on business - and they spoke for 27 minutes.

"The subjects we discussed would have been the events that took place on our property that particular day…" the man said during the 2002 trial.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Asked if the conversation related to a scheme to cover up the murders, he replied: "No, definitely not."

Christine and Amber Lundy were murdered that night.

The two creditors were later questioned by police probing the double murder, the Herald understands, but the line of inquiry wasn't pursued further.

The business associate was, however, formally interviewed several times by homicide police investigating the Lundy murders.

He was also treated as a suspect in the killings.

During one police video interview, the man noticed his name written on a document headed "Suspect in Murder" and "wondered what was going on".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He told Lundy's original trial that on November 26, 2000, he was visited at home by two senior police officers, including Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Grantham, the man in charge of Operation Winter as the Lundy case was dubbed.

They were "quite irate, maybe nor irate, but very disturbed", he said, that he hadn't returned to the police station for another video interview.

"And they accused me at that stage of telling nothing but lies to the police, at which I got a little agitated and I asked them not too politely to leave," he told the court.

The man claimed he was offered a deal by police for his cooperation in the case.

"Mr Grantham offered me immunity from prosecution," he said.

"He was only going to offer it to me once because he believed I was involved in some way, shape, or form, with the killings of Christine and Amber.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I told him that I didn't want immunity from prosecution, because I was in no way, shape, or form, or time, or place, or anything involved with their murders."

During the 2002 trial, it was suggested someone cleaned up the bloody scene after the slayings and switched off the Lundy's computer.

The man claimed police accused him of the clean-up job.

He also gave a statement for Lundy's retrial at the High Court in Wellington in 2015 – ordered by the Privy Council in London which had concerns over Lundy's first trial where he was found guilty and jailed for life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years, later uplifted to a minimum of 20 years.

He again alleged Grantham had offered him "immunity from prosecution" even though he was accused of "cleaning up the scene and switching the computer off after the murders".

Lundy – now aged 63 – has always professed his innocence and becomes eligible for parole in 2022.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Mark Lundy maintains his innocence 20 years after his wife and daughter's murders.
Mark Lundy maintains his innocence 20 years after his wife and daughter's murders.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Pharmac makes funding U-turn over patches for menopause treatment

16 Jun 03:05 AM
CrimeUpdated

'Eye-watering': Police say 18yo driver hit nearly 200km/h on Akl motorway

16 Jun 02:59 AM
New Zealand

The Country: David Seymour reviews Jacinda Ardern's memoir

16 Jun 02:13 AM

The woman behind NZ’s first PAK’nSAVE

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Pharmac makes funding U-turn over patches for menopause treatment

Pharmac makes funding U-turn over patches for menopause treatment

16 Jun 03:05 AM

Patients will be able to use one of two brands of HRT patch, but availability may vary.

'Eye-watering': Police say 18yo driver hit nearly 200km/h on Akl motorway

'Eye-watering': Police say 18yo driver hit nearly 200km/h on Akl motorway

16 Jun 02:59 AM
The Country: David Seymour reviews Jacinda Ardern's memoir

The Country: David Seymour reviews Jacinda Ardern's memoir

16 Jun 02:13 AM
'Inappropriate restraint': Disabled woman found with socks taped to hands

'Inappropriate restraint': Disabled woman found with socks taped to hands

16 Jun 02:00 AM
How one volunteer makes people feel seen
sponsored

How one volunteer makes people feel seen

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP