Woman invited out by murderer
A woman who Sainey Marong invited to go out with him the night he murdered Renee Duckmanton says she had a ‘‘really close call’’.
Marong, 33, was last week in the High Court at Christchurch found guilty of murdering Duckmanton on May 14, 2016. He strangled the 22-year-old during a dispute after having sex in the back of his car, dumped her body on the side of a Rakaia road the following day and set her on fire.
The night before he killed the 22-yearold sex worker he met Emma Marrison, then aged 18, outside the Irishman bar on St Asaph St in central Christchurch.
Marrison, a student out at the bars for the first time, said she was standing on the footpath waiting for a friend to pick her up when Marong walked over to her.
‘‘He just came up to me; he seemed completely normal so I didn’t feel uncomfortable or anything.
‘‘It was just really small talk. [He was] just asking me if I had a good night. I said ‘Yup, how about you?’ and then he just sort of passed me his phone to put my number in it.’’
Marrison put her number in and they spoke for about 10 minutes before Marrison’s friend picked her up. She had no intention of seeing him again.
‘‘I was 100 per cent just being friendly. I wasn’t interested at all in that way.’’
Shortly after midday on May 14, Marong sent Marrison several text messages. ‘‘Hey Ema how ar u doin? This is Sainey the African u meet last nyt at the clubb (sic)’’.
She replied saying she was good and asked how he was.
‘‘M gud thx dear. Did u had a gud sleep? (sic)’’ Marong replied.
He then sent another text asking what her plans were for the day. She said she was studying.
Marong, who said he was spending the day at home watching movies, asked if he could take her out that night. She replied saying she could not as she already had plans.
‘‘Oh that’s ok I thought u wanted to go clubbing as u said last nyt, but all gud m happy to cht wit u.’’
Marrison never heard from Marong again.
Three weeks later she received a call from police. They wanted to talk to her in relation to a murder.
She said she initially feared one of her friends had died.
When she got to the station she was asked if she was familiar with the investigation into Duckmanton’s death. The police officer then showed her a piece of paper with the text messages from Marong.
‘‘I was in disbelief as he seemed like such a normal person; so cool, calm and collected. I didn’t get any vibes that he could be capable of something so horrific.’’
She believed she had a ‘‘really close call’’ that night. ‘‘It could’ve been me who was murdered.
‘‘He didn’t have a specific target in mind, it was just sort of anyone he could take and do all those horrible things to.’’