The Media Council has upheld a complaint about this article. A summary of the decision is available here
One of New Zealand’s longest-serving convicted murderers has been refused parole – but will be taking regular leave from prison to set up a life on the outside.
Christopher Ngapuahi Foster was jailed in 1997 for the murder of a woman in Rotorua.
He has appeared before the Parole Board numerous times over the years but has never been able to persuade the authority that it is safe to release him.
Herald senior journalist Anna Leask sat in on his recent hearing and reveals why Foster must stay behind bars – for now.
Foster is among New Zealand’s most dangerous murderers – men who have served more than 20 years in prison and been refused parole repeatedly because they are deemed too high-risk for release.
The Herald recently reported on 47 of the convicted killers, whose names were supplied by the Department of Corrections under the Official Information Act.
Three further names could not be published until checks were made by Corrections to ensure no court-ordered suppressions would be breached by the details being published.
And for seven of the men, little or no information was available online about their offending.
The Herald has since obtained further details through another OIA request to police.
Lee Rawari Kohiti: sentenced June 1996
Kohiti was 19 when he murdered Ivan Keith Kemp in Hastings in September 1995. Kemp’s body was found on the banks of the Clive River.
Mark Steven Hitchens: May 1997
Hitchens was 21 when he murdered Tracey Te Wharau at Palmerston North in September 1996. Te Wharau was a 22-year-old mother-of-one.
Brian Shedrick Watson: May 2002
In January 2002 Watson, 51, walked into the New Plymouth police station and confessed to shooting a woman dead.
Police and ambulance staff went to a Manu Cres address and found Wendy June Heaysman, 56, dead in a bedroom.
A .22-calibre rifle was also found in the house and Watson was charged with murder.
It was later revealed that Heaysman had been shot twice in the chest and once in the head in a home invasion-style attack.
At his sentencing, Watson made a tearful apology to Heaysman’s family.
“‘I just want to say sorry . . . God be merciful,” said the unemployed rigger.
Watson was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 13 years.
He is also serving a concurrent seven-year sentence for wounding Heaysman with intent to injure a month before her murder.
The court heard Watson left his relationship with Heaysman on December 20, 2001 – the day after assaulting her.
On January 3, 2002, he borrowed a gun and ammunition from a son and the next day drove back to New Plymouth.
At 5.25pm he went to the New Plymouth police station and said he had just shot his ‘‘lady’' with a rifle, which he had left beside her on the bed. He then produced bullets from his pocket.
Stephen Paul Williams: February 1993
Ōtara man Michael John Tapihiko, 28, died within minutes of being dropped off at Middlemore Hospital with severe head injuries in August 1992.
He was taken to hospital in a car driven by another man – who left as soon as hospital staff got Tapihiko out of the vehicle.
Before driving off he said Tapihiko had been involved in a car crash.
It later emerged that Tapihiko and Williams were rivals for the affections of the same woman.
She had a child with Tapihiko but when he spent time in prison she took up with Williams and became pregnant.
When Tapihiko was released the woman decided to continue her relationship with him. She and the two men were living in the same house.
Williams said that if she went back to the other man he would kill him.
The day of the murder the men had argued. The woman left the house for half an hour and when she got back Williams told her he had knocked Tapihiko out in a fist fight.
She went to the Ōtāhuhu police station to report her concerns. Meanwhile, Williams dropped Tapihiko off at the hospital.
At trial, Williams claimed Tapihiko attacked him first and he acted in response, but could not remember the fatal assault.
“He went berserk,” his lawyer said.
A family member posted about the loss of Tapihiko online in later years, sharing that she helped to dress him before the funeral.
“I was overwhelmed by the damage to his face/head ... The coffin was sealed with lead so it could not be opened as Dad wanted Michael to be remembered without the injuries,” she said.
She revealed the woman at the centre of the love triangle and her son with Tapihiko attended the tangi at his parents’ home.
“Michael’s ashes were released at Mission Bay Point waters,” she said.
Gavin Dacombe: July 1999
Dacombe was convicted of the murder of Wayne Richardson in Whangārei.
Mani Seu: November 1997
In 1997 Seu was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for rape, unlawful sexual connection and indecent assault on a girl under 12. The sentence was increased to preventive detention on appeal.
Early in his sentence, he was charged with misconduct for assaulting another prisoner and pushing a staff member.
On March 4, 2004, Rex Leonard Hopper was found dead in the grounds of Unit 7 at Rimutaka Prison with a one-metre-long garden fork embedded in his neck.
In December of that year, Emani Seu was convicted in the High Court at Wellington of Hopper’s murder and later sentenced to life imprisonment.
Tippie King-Hazel: February 1998
King-Hazel murdered Bay of Plenty widow Mona “Bonnie” Lickfold.
Her body was found at her rural property in October 1997. She had been attacked and suffered serious head injuries but managed to call 111 before she died.
Her family said the killing of the petite, fiercely independent woman was “senseless”.
They said Lickfold was a wonderful woman and a committed conservationist who loved animals and flowers. When her husband Alf died in 1990, she refused to move to a smaller farm.
Christopher Ngapuahi Foster
When Foster murdered Sharmaine Grace he already had six pages of convictions to his name dating back to 1979.
He is now 59 and appeared before the Parole Board in May.
Before then he had been denied parole numerous times because of a lack of progress behind bars.
He was doing well but in 2023 the board were advised there had been a “serious hiccup” in prison.
“He picked up a package that had been thrown over the prison wire. He knew he would be caught but said he was pressured to agree to the pick-up,” said Parole Board chairman Sir Ron Young.
“That action rather sent him backwards.”
By his hearing this year he had been working with a psychologist on a “structured criminogenic programme”.
“Mr Foster was making progress and had been approved for guided releases and released to work,” Sir Ron said last month.
“Unfortunately, he then assaulted another prisoner.
“We want him to improve his behaviour so there are no misconducts. We want him to start reintegration with self-care, guided releases and release to work, particularly release to work will be important for him to accumulate some savings.
“All of that reintegration are ways of us testing Mr Foster to make sure he can apply what he has learned from his one-on-one counselling with the psychologist.”
The board had suggested that Foster consider seeking release to community accommodation run by a particular organisation.
But he said he was not keen on that, having heard from other inmates who had not had successful releases there.
“We have pointed out to him that it might be one of the most successful programmes operating in New Zealand for long-term accommodation, which clearly would be ideal for him,” said Sir Ron.
“He has not had the opportunity to talk to the hundreds, no doubt thousands, of prisoners who have been successfully released there into the community.”
A meeting between Foster and a representative of the organisation would be arranged before his next parole hearing.
In that time, he would also be participating in temporary releases to get used to life outside prison. During those releases, he would be supervised and undertake tasks like setting up a public transport access pass and bank cards and learning to navigate a supermarket.
Inmates like Foster are often overwhelmed in environments that seem basic to most people. The volume of people, number of options and other things like lights and noise can be difficult for them to process and manage.
The board also wanted Foster to transfer to a prison in Christchurch.
“He has progressed as much as he can in Invercargill so it would be good if he could be transferred to Christchurch and begin his reintegration there,” he said.
“We are satisfied in the meantime he remains an undue risk.
“We will see him again by the end of May 2025.”
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz
What started a fatal house blaze in Waihī is still being investigated.