Murder mystery: mum's anguish

BY NEIL REID

The anguished mother of a young man brutally slain in a suburban home six months ago is begging his friends to tell the truth about who killed her son.

Police say associates of Damien Loder Allen – found dead with head injuries at the Hillsborough, Auckland, house on September 24 – are stonewalling their inquiry.

They believe the death scene was cleaned and the 33-year-old’s body moved before 111 calls were made from the property, which is linked to two notorious drug-dealing brothers.

“My son was killed, murdered, at a place he called home, surrounded by [people] who he thought were his friends,’’ Shirley Allen told Sunday News from her home in Mackay, Queensland.

“We have been robbed of Damien. I need to know what happened to him ... and I need to know who is responsible.

“The person who did this must be carrying a huge weight on their shoulders. Just come forward, tell the police what happened that night so we as family can get some sleep and Damien can rest in peace.’’
Shirley said she was further traumatised when those she believes know who killed Damien, above, turned up at his funeral.

However those people will still not speak to detectives, Shirley said.

Police investigating Damien's death would not comment to Sunday News. But Operation Ebb head, Detective Inspector Scott Beard, has said previously: "We're obstructed in our current investigations by people who we believe are withholding vital information that would assist us and Damien's family to uncover the truth around what happened in the hours before he died."

Damien's sister Kylee Fowler said the family weren't even able to know what time her brother lost his life. "Our death certificate says he died either on or between the 23rd and 24th [of September]," Kylee said from Mackay.

"That doesn't sound like much, but it is a big thing. When did he die? We are not going to get any of that information until someone comes forward and we get some truth. We need answers, we need justice."

Shirley and Kylee dashed across the Tasman after being told of Damien's death.

One of his housemates originally told them Damien had complained of a headache and gone back to bed – only to be found dead later.

But the day they arrived in New Zealand, they were shocked when police confirmed they had opened a homicide inquiry. There was more heartache at Damien's funeral three days later.

"Damien's so-called friends just made a mockery of it and his family," Kylee said.

"They brought their booze inside. In the middle of the service a guy got up, interrupted the service, saying: `Come and say your respects'. We had a hat on Damien's coffin. But this guy got up, took his own hat off and put Damien's hat on, slammed a can of bourbon on his coffin and all hell broke loose. Our whole family was up and the funeral directors had come in as everyone was up and yelling.

"Throughout the service they were yelling out things, like 'D [Damien] wouldn't have liked this song'. It was horrific."

Shirley said: "Damien's funeral was... a blur to us. But people got up at his funeral and spoke of how they loved him, cried for him and how they were missing him. He was their 'Bro' and they said, 'Not a day will go by that we won't miss you'.

"If those people meant what they said, then do the right thing by Damien. Come forward and tell the police what happened that night."

Shirley said police were "working tirelessly" on what has become a murder mystery.

"[But] no one is saying anything, no one is going to say anything. It is the whole protect one another kind of thing."

Shirley said her son wasn't an angel but hadn't deserved his brutal end. The family moved from New Zealand to Australia in 1981. As a youngster, Damien was a keen sportsman who enjoyed BMX racing and riding motorcross bikes. But he was deported back to New Zealand in 2003 after a string of non-violent criminal convictions.

"The law came in here in Australia in 2002 that when someone had served any longer than four years in jail, be it a serious crime or a minor crime, they could be deported," Shirley said.

"Damien, from the time he was 18 he was in trouble; breaking and entering, driving without a licence about 25 times [and] drunk-driving. He was [deported] because he was a repeat offender and because he held a New Zealand passport, as we all do."

Damien constantly told his mum that he wanted to live back in Australia, she said.

Kylee said her brother was a "clown" who wasn't afraid to laugh at his own misfortune.

Shortly before his death he almost drowned after deciding to swim across the Manukau Harbour after a drinking session.

"A tug-boat found him when he was floating on a wine cask," she said. "They took him to the hospital with hypothermia – he was lucky. He would say, `I thought I was a goner, I thought that was it, lights out'. He wanted to go and thank the people from the tug boat. He never got the chance, unfortunately.

"It is hard to deal with, the fact he is gone. I am never going to speak to him again," she said.

Damien's ashes returned across the Tasman with Shirley after his funeral. "I have brought him home now, but this isn't the way I wanted to bring him home. I have Damien here with me, where he always wanted to be – home," she said.

The house in which Damien was found dead was co-owned by Albert Rhodes who in February 2009 became the first person to be jailed for life for manufacturing methamphetamine. His brother Richard Rhodes was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for his part in the drug ring, which included Albert and four others.

Anyone with information should phone the Operation Ebb team at (09) 302 6400 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

- © Fairfax NZ News