Man accused of killing Victorian tourist Sean McKinnon in his van has his own strong Australian link
The father of the man accused of murdering Sean McKinnon in New Zealand breaks his silence after the Victorian tourist’s body is returned to his family.
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The father of the accused New Zealand gunman alleged to have shot Victorian tourist Sean McKinnon has spoken out.
The Cairns man, who cannot be identified, made a brief statement in the wake of allegations surrounding his son who has been charged with murder.
“It is a pretty difficult time,” the man, originally from Rockhampton but now living in Cairns, said.
“My thoughts are with the family (of Mr McKinnon); I won’t be making any further comments at this time.”
He is known for charity work, having helped with fundraisers for cancer.
His comments came after the body of Mr McKinnon was returned to his family in the New Zealand city of Hamilton, after authorities completed a post mortem over the weekend.
Waikato Crime Manager Detective Inspector Graham Pitkethley said Mr McKinnon’s sisters, brother and his fiancee Bianca Buckley will remain in New Zealand “for the time being” and are being looked after by Police and Victim Support teams.
Detective Inspector Pitkethley said the family appreciated the support they have received from around the world, but do not wish to make any further public comments.
However, he relayed a message from Ms Buckley saying “she is focused on gathering her thoughts on the memories she has with Sean and the time they spent together before the tragic events of Friday morning.”
Ms Buckley, 32, had a miraculous escape after she and Mr McKinnon, 33, were attacked while sleeping in their rented camper van in a car park at the remote Te Toro Gorge in the early hours of last Friday morning.
A 23-year-old man allegedly smashed the window of the van with the butt of a gun and then shot Mr McKinnon twice.
He then allegedly pushed Ms Buckley out of the van allowing her to take some clothes and telling her he would not kill her.
She hid until the gunman had driven off with the van and Mr McKinnon’s body still inside, and then ran for her life through the night to find help.
The suspected murderer was arrested by heavily armed police on Friday night hiding in a farm workers’ cabin in a rural area outside the city of Hamilton.
Ms Buckley paid tribute to Mr McKinnon, who she described as “the light and love of my life”.
“My greatest teacher. My protector,” she said in a note released to the Nine Network yesterday.
Meanwhile, a couple who live at the house Ms Buckley ran to for help on the day of the murder have relived the horror.
“We just heard her calling out,” the man, who does not want to be named, told abc.net.au.
“I popped my head out the window and asked her what was going on,” he said.
“Obviously it was that her partner’s been shot, the van’s been stolen, stuck in the middle of nowhere, ‘Can you help me?’”
“She ran down the road in bare feet — six kilometres, hid in bushes because she heard creaks and thought they were car noises of the guy coming back to try and get her.
“In the light of the situation — yeah of such a heinous act, she was brave, man, real brave.”
The couple only moved in to the house in Raglan — described by one local as the “Byron Bay of New Zealand” — a few weeks ago expecting to live a quiet life by the sea.
Another local, Lawrence Wallis, told the NZ Herald his eight-year-old saw a man hitchhiking past their house on Whitikahu Rd about 4.30pm on Friday.
Mr Wallis said in hindsight, it was “pretty scary to think he walked right past our gate”.
MURDER ACCUSED’S AUSTRALIAN LINK
It comes as Mr McKinnon’s alleged murderer has been discovered to be the son of an Australian salesman who lives in Queensland.
The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has refused to comment when contacted by News Corp Australia about his 23-year-old son’s alleged crimes.
It is understood father and son have not been close or had much contact in recent years.
But just five weeks ago, the alleged killer posted on his father’s Facebook page a message saying “could you imagine someone doing this to there (sic) own son.
“A father can’t choose when to be in there sons life when you don’t have the right to say your opinion on rumours you have heard you were the gutless one who left”. (Sic)
It is understood the parents of the alleged killer separated some time ago.
His mother and sister live in Te Ahora, New Zealand, and his father (who is originally from Rockhampton, according to his social media accounts) now lives in Cairns.
The father is well known in Cairns for his community work and for helping to raise funds for children’s charities.
His older sister is in theatre production and has previously put up social media posts in the wake of the Christchurch massacre abhorring the violence.
She said in one post people should not make excuses for the perpetrator.
“This was a white man committing a disgusting act or terror” she wrote.
She has not responded to any questions about her brother and has since changed the name of her social media account.
The alleged murderer has been charged with four offences, the murder of Mr McKinnon, threatening to kill his Canadian fiancee Bianca Buckley, aggravated robbery and causing grievous bodily harm to Mr McKinnon and driving while disqualified. Police are still hunting for the murder weapon.
The alleged killer, originally from Te Aroha south of Auckland, appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Saturday and was remanded in custody to appear in the High Court on August 27 with his name and identifying details suppressed.
One friend of the alleged killer has since put up a photo of them together and a social media post saying: “I witnessed your struggle, I’ll always have you”.
Mr McKinnon and Ms Buckley had been asleep in their hired camper van in a remote car park south of Auckland, when they were woken by the man asking for help.
A local resident who helped Ms Buckley after she escaped told the media the man had said he wanted their van to get back to the town of Hamilton.
The resident said the man had allegedly smashed the window of the van with the butt of his gun and put the gun through the window and shot Mr McKinnon twice.
He then pushed Ms Buckley out of the van allowing her to take some clothes and telling her he would not kill her.
She hid until the gunman had driven off and then ran for her life to residents, about two kilometres away.
HOW THE ARREST UNFOLDED
New Zealand police launched a massive manhunt for the gunman and at 11pm on Friday night armed officers surrounded an empty farm workers’ cabin in Tauhei, a rural area outside the city of Hamilton.
The police had been alerted by residents in the area who had seen a man walking strangely and attempting to hitchhike.
Nicki Quinn who runs the Morrinsville Community Facebook page said her partner and another couple of friends were about to call police when the man approached them and said he was trying to find his brother’s farm.
They said he was acting weird and did not seem to know the address. While he was talking with them, he was fiddling with something under his jacket.
Police found him some hours later hiding in the cabin and arrested him.
Mr McKinnon’s grieving siblings, Emmeline, Mary and Lachlan are in Hamilton waiting for his body to be released so they can take him home and bury him in the town where he was born.
Mr McKinnon was in New Zealand on a surfing holiday with Ms Buckley who was working in Auckland as a midwife.
He had been working as a carpenter at Stephen Little Construction in Hobart, Tasmania.
Hutchinson Builders site manager Mark Mackney told the media his workers on site were sad.
“He was an extremely likeable man and will be surely missed by his workmates here in Tasmania.
“We will inform the full site on Monday morning of this sad loss and pay our respect with a minute’s silence.”
MUM RECALLS CARJACKING HORROR
Meanwhile, a young mother has recalled the chilling moment the suspect in the campervan killing apparently tried to carjack her on Friday afternoon.
The woman, Narissa Taylor, told 7 News that she knew about what had happened nearby but didn’t think anything of it when she saw the hitchhiker.
“(But) when he started to be quite forceful and tried to get into my car, I (thought) ‘no, this is dodgy I need to get out of here’,” she said.
The man also approached another car at a local school.
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