New Plymouth jogger Anne Elizabeth McCullough, 45, died after being deliberately struck by a car being driven by Matthew David James Kinghorn in 2012. Her body was found in the back seat of his vehicle at the Meeting of the Waters in New Plymouth.
New Plymouth jogger Anne Elizabeth McCullough, 45, died after being deliberately struck by a car being driven by Matthew David James Kinghorn in 2012. Her body was found in the back seat of his vehicle at the Meeting of the Waters in New Plymouth.
A man who murdered a jogger by deliberately running her down says anti-Christ lyrics from a thrash metal band were the backdrop to the fatal moment.
Matthew David James Kinghorn said he was listening to the band Slayerat the time, and shared how the lyrics had fed into the“evil ideologies” he had in the lead-up to the murder.
Kinghorn is currently serving life imprisonment for murdering mother-of-two Anne Elizabeth McCullough, 45, in 2012.
Anne Elizabeth McCullough was a much-loved wife, mother-of-two and friend to many.
Kinghorn told the board that leading up to the murder, he had adopted “evil ideologies”, was full of hate, living recklessly, isolating, and abusing alcohol and drugs.
It was brought on, he believed, by his self-hatred and fuelled by the music he was listening to, he said.
“I was fuelling my mind with hatred,” he told the Parole Board.
“A lot of my views that I had, in regards to listening to music, it was a lot of anti-Christ, or death metal, and I’d seemed to have adopted all of those things quite literally in my life.”
When asked how he related that to his offending, he said it was “very present” on the day.
He said, mixed with the substances he had taken, he experienced a “cocktail of rage”.
Jogger murdered and left in car
Kinghorn had been drinking and taking drugs overnight until around 8am on October 20, 2012, when he parted ways with a friend and said he was going to “find a chick or find a hook-up”.
Hours later, he went to an adult shop and purchased items, including lubricant and party pills.
He then drove past McCullough, who was exercising along Frankley Rd, before he turned his car around and veered on to the grass verge and hit her.
The police cordon at the Meeting of the Waters scenic reserve in New Plymouth, Taranaki, where Anne Elizabeth McCullough's body was found on the back seat of Matthew David James Kinghorn's vehicle. Photo / David Fairey
Kinghorn stopped the car, picked up McCullough, who was knocked unconscious on impact, and placed her on the back seat.
After driving along various country roads outside New Plymouth, and spending time parked in a paddock, he abandoned the vehicle at the Meeting of the Waters scenic reserve.
Kinghorn went to a nearby house and asked the occupant to phone the police and his mother.
He landed on a 15-year minimum term of imprisonment, and then allowed two years’ credit for several mitigating factors, including Kinghorn’s guilty plea and an appearance of genuine remorse.
The Crown went on to appeal against the sentence, but the Court of Appeal upheld Justice Hansen’s sentencing decision.
Matthew David James Kinghorn was sentenced in the High Court at New Plymouth in 2013. Photo / Tara Shaskey
At the Parole Board hearing, Kinghorn did not seek an early release and read aloud a letter he had penned.
He described murdering McCullough, and taking her from her family, as a “disgraceful, horrible, cowardly act”.
“Every day I think of how they must feel. Even the smallest joy in their day can be crushed by the thought of what I did to their loved one,” he said.
“I don’t know how I can ever express how truly sorry I am.”
Kinghorn claimed he had done “a lot of soul-searching” over the years, trying to rid himself of the ideologies he once lived by, and that he was a different person now.
“I now live a lot more peaceful within myself, keeping busy with study, work, fitness and spiritual meditation.”
However, the board heard that up until two years ago, Kinghorn was experiencing “violent fantasies”.
He described feeling stressed and disempowered, and having “spirals of fantasies” about hurting people who were hurting him or others.
“I didn’t know how to talk about it at that point,” he said.
Kinghorn said he would isolate himself in his cell, pace for hours, not sleep and fantasise about “expressing [his] hurt on them, normally in the way of restraining them or breaking a bone, or something like that”.
The board heard that Kinghorn has engaged in treatment while in prison but further rehabilitative work was required, which he said he was committed to.
Kinghorn was working behind the wire and was described as “polite and compliant”.
He said he accepted his life needed to be of complete sobriety, and he no longer listened to death metal music.
The board asked Kinghorn how it could be assured the issues he had faced were resolved to the point where it was safe for him to return to the community.
He stressed he had put in work to understand himself and had learned tools to cope better with his emotions and certain situations.
The board said Kinghorn still had work to do and supported him engaging in a further treatment programme, to be determined by the prison.
He would be seen by the board again in another 12 months.
Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 and is currently an assistant editor and reporter for the Open Justice team. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff covering crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.
