Ashes returned to Kirsty’s mum
Kirsty Bentley’s mother has been reunited with her murdered daughter’s ashes, on the day of her former husband’s funeral.
Jill Peachey (formerly Bentley) was told to seek legal advice on Tuesday as her daughter’s urn was buried in a garden owned by Kirsty’s father, Sid Bentley.
But yesterday Peachey’s husband, Noel, confirmed Kirsty’s ashes were back with her mother, after a meeting with the Public Trust and the Ashburton New Life Church, where Bentley had worshipped. ‘‘Kirsty was now with her mother after all these years apart. We thank everyone for their support,’’ he said.
The couple split in 2000, the year after Kirsty was found dead near the Rakaia River.
Bentley, 64, died on Monday of cancer. He had said he wanted his ashes to be buried with those of his daughter, raising the prospect of legal battle. While Bentley was a suspect in his daughter’s 1998 disappearance and murder, he had always denied any involvement.
There was confusion this week whether the ashes were still there, after a neighbour reported the memorial garden, where the urn was buried, had been dug up.
Kirsty, 15, went missing walking her dog along the Ashburton River on New Year’s Day. Her body was found 60 kilometres away in the Rakaia Gorge on January 17, the day before her 16th birthday.
At his funeral, Bentley was remembered as a kind, generous man famous for his lemon tree.
But there was no mention of his daughter’s murder at the funeral, which about 30 people attended.
Most of those gathered at the sombre 30-minute service in Tinwald, appeared to be from the New Life Church.
People spoke of his battle with cancer and other struggles.
‘‘It can be easy to become bitter and selfish when life throws you grief and sorrow, but to know Sid is to know his heart of kindness and generosity,’’ pastor Lisa Anderson said.
Bentley was born in Middlesex, England in 1951. His father, Peter, was a mayor.
Anderson, who read the eulogy said little was known about his schooling life, apart from his success as cross-country runner.
He was a ‘‘very intelligent and creative man’’, who spent many years on merchant ships in the Navy.
‘‘The adventures of Sid could have easily made the New York [Times] bestsellers list. He engaged you in stories of danger with gunmen shooting around him at one port or contaminated drinking water collected in an African port for the ship’s crew,’’ she said.
Bentley met Peachey in 1973. The pair married in 1976.
‘‘Sid loved his children and carried a picture of both in his wallet to this day,’’ Anderson said.
It was understood Bentley bequeathed his South St property to the church. Prison inmate Nikki Roper has been shut out of his own trial after a corridor confrontation with the four Corrections officers minding him at the Christchurch Court House.
The trial took place yesterday with tight security because of concerns about the 26-year-old, including prison staff finding two ‘‘stabbing devices’’ in his cell in the last two weeks.
Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said it was not safe to continue the trial with Roper in the court and ordered that he be held in a cell while the prosecution case about two prison assault charges was presented without him.
Roper had a lawyer, Kiran Paima, who remained in court.
The day had begun with the judge issuing a warning to Roper. He said he had granted the Corrections Department’s request for Roper to stay manacled during the trial, and stay in the dock rather than sitting behind his lawyer.
He told Roper: ‘‘Should there be any disruption of these proceedings by you, I am authorised under the Criminal Procedures Act – and I indicate to you I will – to hear these proceedings in your absence. I give you that advice now.’’
The trial went ahead quietly at first but deteriorated rapidly at the 11.30am adjournment.
Roper protested that with the manacles holding his hands at his waist he was not able to eat or go to the toilet.
He was taken out of court but his confrontation with the four Corrections officers with him could be heard from the corridor.
The judge said he had a history of trying to get out of the dock to get at people in court. He was being held in maximum security because of assaults and threats against Corrections staff.
He had been told Roper would be transferred to a maximum security prison in the North Island and would do whatever it took to remain in the South Island. He would delay the trial to stop being moved north.
The judge said that after the prosecution case, he would deal with how to hear Roper’s evidence if he was going to give it in his defence. A Christchurch dairy selling the country’s most sought-after chocolate milk – even though it shouldn’t be – has already sold out.
Thorrington Dairy, on Colombo St, was one of two in the city that smuggled Lewis Road Chocolate Milk into its fridges.
Lewis Road Creamery has yet to distribute its famous chocolate milk to the South Island, with a launch date to be announced this month.
The creamery has warned it could pose a health and safety risk, as there was no guarantee the bottles were refrigerated while they were freighted down. It has asked both dairies to stop sourcing and selling the product.
Thorrington Dairy owner Girish Koshiya was selling 300ml bottles of Lewis Road Creamery chocolate milk at his Colombo St store. He had sourced two deliveries of the 300ml milk, with 200 bottles in each delivery. The latest shipment arrived on Tuesday. He sold out on Wednesday.
Koshiya would not say how he got hold of the milk, or how much it cost him. He would not restock.
Lewis Road said the Triton Dairy, in Colombo St, Sydenham, had stocked the chocolate milk but had since sold out. News of the chocolate milk on sale in Christchurch spread on Facebook.
Lewis Road spokeswoman Angela Weeks said the dairies sourced the milk through North Island contacts. Both had been advised to stop selling it. ‘‘We don’t advise consumers purchase the milk as we can’t guarantee that it has been refrigerated during the freighting process.’’
Construction of a new processing plant in Waikato, which would produce enough chocolate milk to allow South Island distribution, was almost completed.
Triton Dairy could not be reached.