Parole denied again for Gordon Hieatt who lived with his murdered girlfriend’s corpse

Gordon Hieatt murdered his girlfriend in her Auckland apartment. Photo / Natalie Slade

Warning: This story contains distressing content which some people may find upsetting

A man who strangled his girlfriend to death and then lived with her corpse for several weeks has said he was stressed in the lead-up to the murder and “ready to blow at any time”.

Gordon Hieatt killed Nuttidar Vaikaew at her Auckland apartment in 2009 after an argument over rent, and Hieatt having to leave the flat when Vaikaew was visited by clients who hired her for sex work.

Hieatt then lived with her body for nearly a month before police found her in a bed at the back of the flat.

An electric fan had been pointed at her body in an attempt to disguise the smell.

In 2011, Hieatt was imprisoned for life with a minimum non-parole period of 11 years.

After becoming eligible for early release in 2020, he has had several appearances before the New Zealand Parole Board but has remained behind bars.

He told the board last year that he was not ready to be released, but once he was, he was keen to get back into computer programming, despite identifying the stress of the industry as being the “root” of his offending.

This week, Hieatt appeared before the board again and said he now hoped for parole.

He pointed to a psychologist’s report which noted he did not need further treatment sessions.

Hieatt also spoke about the murder, telling the board about what had sparked his brutal offending.

“Basically I’d mismanaged my life to a point where I was stressed and depressed, and I was not handling life well at all.”

“Was she responsible?” a board member asked.

“She wasn’t really responsible… I was in such a mess, I was ready to blow at any time,” Hieatt replied.

“I was putting too much stress on myself.”

During the argument that preceded the murder, Hieatt put masking tape over Vaikaew’s mouth and handcuffed her. The board questioned whether the murder was premeditated.

“No, it just blew up,” Hieatt said.

“We were having an argument and I just lost it,” noting they kept some “bondage” items beside the bed.

“I just wanted the argument to stop, so I thought taping up her mouth would be a good way to do it.”

The board heard Hieatt has been doing Release to Work outside the wire, a responsibility granted to inmates nearing release.

He said he enjoyed the work and had been able to use some of the tools he had learned through treatment programmes to avoid conflict.

Hieatt said he was confident he could also apply the tools if in the community fulltime.

However, Hieatt did not have supported accommodation organised for a release so the board had no option but to decline parole.

He will appear before the board again in August.

‘I sat on the couch where he murdered her’

A friend of Vaikaew, a Thai national, told NZME that she had hated her job as a sex worker but could not find any other work in New Zealand.

“Believe me, [Vaikaew] was a lovely lady who always had lunch ready and was a good artist with a lovely heart.

“She hated what she did but couldn’t get a normal job and was supporting her young daughter back in Thailand.

“She had a sadness about her… about Thailand; something had happened in her life there.”

Gordon Hieatt has been declined parole. Photo / Natalie Slade

The woman often took photos of sex workers for a website that advertised their services and said when she went to Vaikaew’s apartment to photograph her, she was always friendly and hospitable.

“She would always make you lunch and give you a cup of tea,” she said.

“I sat on the couch where he murdered her.”

Vaikaew’s body was eventually discovered after her landlord, Ray Goffin, called the police.

He previously told NZME that he had felt something was wrong after visiting the apartment to collect the rent.

“It just hit me,” he said of the smell.

“There were piles of flies in the kitchen, on the floor, on the windowsills. Just everywhere.”

Goffin went home and called the police who entered the flat and found Vaikaew’s body covered in blankets.

Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.