MOTHER'S 'EXECUTION' SHOWS DRUG DANGER

The fate of a Taupo mother who was murdered by her drug-addict husband
as he held her hostage highlights the extreme dangers of
methamphetamine and cannabis use, a coroner's court report says.

Taupo coroner Wallace Bain issued his report last week into the
inquest on the deaths of Deborah Rerekura, 39, and her husband,
William Rerekura, 40.

He shot her in the chest at their Nukuhau home on November 26, 2005
after holding her at gunpoint for five hours in their bedroom.

He then turned the gun on himself, firing once and then reloading. The
second round killed him, evidence from the report said. Earlier that
day he had threatened to kill his daughter.

The report called him a methamphetamine addict who used cannabis and
drank heavily. He was a "controlling and violent man", paranoid that
his wife was seeing someone else, and had made threats to different
people that he would kill her, it said.

In contrast Mrs Rerekura had been described as a happy person who
seldom drank alcohol and never took drugs. She had endured 20 years of
physical abuse from him. In 2001 she sought a protection order against
him after he put a gun barrel into her mouth and threatened to kill
her.

Rerekura told her she would end up like a stepmother who had been shot
dead by his father. She had begun to lose faith in the police's
ability to stop her husband's violence toward her, the report said.

Mr Bain said the deaths highlighted the extreme dangers of
methamphetamine and cannabis use.

An autopsy report showed Rerekura's blood and urine contained
methadone, methamphetamine and cannabis. It was "very likely" he was
affected by cannabis and "possibly" methamphetamine at the time of his
death, it said.

Mr Bain said Mrs Rerekura "was essentially executed by her husband
with their children innocently involved".

A submission to the court by Rerekura's mother, Isabella Westbury, to
suppress publication of the inquest findings was not upheld.

Mrs Rerekura's mother, Judy Samuels, said publication of every detail
of the relationship would help clear her daughter's name - and help
anyone else in a similar situation.