The Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association, better known simply as the RSA was first established in New Zealand on the 28th of April 1916 by veteran of the First World War Donald Simson. The RSA is a registered charity that raises money to “provide support and comfort for service men and women and their families”. In 1921, the RSA successfully campaigned for ANZAC Day (the 25th of April) to become a public holiday. However, there is one dark, horrifying moment in the history of the RSA, that would see the organisation the victim of one of the most cruel and depraved acts of violen ..read more

On the 9th of June 1978, natives of the Southland city of Invercargill in the South Island of New Zealand were treated to a curious sight, 1,300 ewes (female sheep) wandering confused around Invercargill’s main shopping district. The confused sheep created chaos as they dashed across roads making traffic come to a standstill, chewed on the local shrubbery and ran into shops looking for safety. But why was this happening? Who set these poor critters loose? Visit www.truecrimenz.com for more information on this case including sources and credits ..read more

Psychopathy is no longer a diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as of the third edition. Rather the diagnosis would be antisocial personality disorder with psychopathic traits. These psychopathic traits are characterised by “a lack of anxiety or fear and by a bold interpersonal style that may mask maladaptive behaviours”, e.g. not adjusting adequately or appropriately to certain environments or situations. Psychopathic traits are assessed using a variety of measurement tools, most famously Robert D. Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R), brought to the mainstre ..read more

WAIKINO. WAIKATO. 19th of October 1923. 10 am. The Headmaster of Waikino School Robert Theodore Reid was in the teacher's room, perhaps going over some reports, perhaps grading some papers. The classrooms were full of children, maybe learning English, a bit of maths, or even history and undoubtedly looking forward to the morning break only half an hour away.  The Headmaster Robert Reid had brought his dog Pax (a brown and white setter) with him to work, as he had done many times before. Pax spent the day in the school’s front yard, presumably sleeping most of the daylight away, as Pax sel ..read more

NEWLANDS. WELLINGTON. Hugo Lupi was born sometime in the late 1800s possibly in Cairo, Egypt, to an Italian family. Hugo immigrated to New Zealand in 1912 and eventually settled in the South Island city of Dunedin. While in the Land of the Long White Cloud, Hugo became a sailor, before giving up the sea life to become a pie-shop proprietor. Hugo Lupi was married, it is unclear when exactly he ‘tied the knot’ but it is probable it was sometime after he arrived in New Zealand in 1912 as it would seem he had his first child to his wife in the late 1910s. However, Hugo began employing a woman by t ..read more

NEWLANDS. WELLINGTON. In the 1800s to early 1920s, there was another, more controversial, type of farming going on, baby farming. Baby farming is the historical practice of accepting custody of an infant or child in exchange for payment. This was usually due to the child being born ‘illegitimate’ (meaning the child was born outside of a marriage, also known as bastardy) and the social stigma that it carried on the mother.  Some baby farmers ‘adopted’ children for lump-sum payments, while others cared for infants for periodic payments. However, in the case of a lump-sum adoption, it was mo ..read more

Hello friends, Jessica here from True Crime NZ. This is a bit of a different podcast today, just to update you on some changes that have been happening in our lives and the future of the podcast ..read more

CHRISTCHURCH. CANTERBURY. Thursday. 25th of September 2008. Some time between 11 am and 12.30 pm. 32-year-old Jason Somerville is home alone at his house, 312 Wainoni Road, on the corner of Hampshire Street and Wainoni Road in the Christchurch suburb of Aranui, his wife Rebecca Chamberlain was out and about. “I was outside [chopping] some wood, came in to get a drink, someone was knocking at the front door. It was her…”. ‘Her’ was 28-year-old Tisha Lowry wearing a Chicago Bulls jacket and jeans who had just walked home from the nearby Bower Tavern. It would seem that Tisha had been to Jason’s ..read more

CHRISTCHURCH. CANTERBURY. Within the eastern suburbs of Christchurch, on the South Island of New Zealand, you will find Aranui. Originally called Flemington (after one time resident of the area Jubal Fleming), Aranui (a Māori word meaning great path) was officially established in 1912. Found in the middle of Aranui is Hampshire Street, dubbed by many “the worst street in Christchurch”. During the 1990s, Hampshire Street was infamous for many instances of violent crime including a 13-year-old boy who was shot by his best friend, a fish and chips shop being firebombed and many occurrences of tee ..read more

22nd July 1981. The Springboks began the journey down the east coast of New Zealand and found their way to Gisborne. The Springboks were to play Poverty Bay (a small bay near Gisborne) for their first game in NZ. To enter Rugby Park (where the game was being played), spectators had to agree to be searched upon entry. Items such as banners, placards, flags, poles, fireworks, or “any article that might impede the match” were banned. As the game kicked off, over 300 anti-apartheid protesters marched across the neighbouring golf course to reach Rugby Park. A wire fence separated folk watching the ..read more