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Jumpy Feilding residents seek helpBy MICHAEL FORBES 25 August 2010
The support network now expects that number to rise further after the bodies of a middle-aged couple and elderly man were found in a house on rural Lees Rd on Monday. Neighbour Judy Plimmer, who lives opposite the 20 hectare lifestyle property, was interviewed by police yesterday. She said police told her they had found a note but did not reveal what it said. Manawatu Neighbourhood Support co-ordinator Allan Muntz, who also lives in Feilding, said he expected more residents to seek his advice after the three deaths. "Especially from those people in the [Lees Rd] area," Mr Muntz said. "I'm expecting quite a few." Most people contacting Neighbourhood Support since the shotgun slaying of Mr Guy, 31, outside his Aorangi Rd home on July 8 were concerned about relatives living alone, Mr Muntz said. "[Now] I'm not having to go out and about as much. I'm having to spend more time in the office ..." Out of the 2500 Manawatu households signed up to a Neighbourhood Support network, 1400 were from Feilding. Mr Muntz said the Scott Guy killing, which has gone unsolved for almost seven weeks, had "hit a bit close to home" and put a lot of people on edge. He would begin a round of public meetings in Feilding next month. Police have not publicly identified the Lees Rd victims, but The Dominion Post understands the couple were the home owners, Deborah Honeyfield and her husband Desmond Winnie. Mrs Plimmer said police told her the elderly man was Ms Honeyfield's father, who had been living with the couple and was occasionally visited by a caregiver. Mrs Plimmer recalled hearing four or five gunshots, a few seconds apart, just after 9am on Friday morning. "It did cross my mind that maybe they were putting down a beast ... It never entered my mind that they [the shots] were up at the house." Ms Honeyfield and Mr Winnie moved into the house around April. Mr Winnie's sister, Lynda, said the pair had been married for about 13 years. Mr Winnie, who grew up in Naenae before moving to Napier and then Manawatu, had three adult children as well as grandchildren and worked as a technician for Rentokil after a previous career as an owner-driver. Lynda Winnie, who had tried to force her way on to her brother's property yesterday to find out his fate, said the family was in shock. "Deep down you probably knew it was him but you didn't want to know it was him." Mr Winnie was a caring and intelligent man who regularly wrote letters to newspapers. Police spent yesterday completing a forensic examination of the scene. The bodies were removed last night. They will be examined and formally identified today. Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan said police were not seeking anyone else in relation to the deaths and there was no risk to public safety. The officer in charge of Feilding police station, Senior Sergeant Nigel Allan, said recent events in Feilding had placed significant demands on policing. A 40-strong investigation team is assigned to the Scott Guy killing. Another 10 officers were investigating the Lees Rd incident, he said.
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