NZ's most brutal killer? The story of RSA triple murderer William Bell
About this episode
This episode revisits the brutal RSA triple murder committed by William Bell and explores the impact on the victims and the failures of the justice system.
In December 2001, William Bell stormed into the Mt Wellington-Panmure Returned Services Association premises and brutally attacked four innocent people. Club president Bill Absolum, club member Wayne Johnson and cleaner Mary Hobson died. Susan Couch survived - just. Bell left the mother-of-one for dead with broken arms and severe head injuries that caused a stroke. She lost about 80 per cent of her blood and ambulance officers later said she came as close to dying as she could get. Bell was on parole at the time of the murders and already had 102 convictions. He was convicted of attempted murder, aggravated robbery and three counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 30 years. He is not eligible for parole December 2031. His getaway driver was a Darnell Tupe. He was convicted of manslaughter and aggravated robbery and sntenced to 12 years' with a seven-year minimum non-parole period. He is currently at large in the community after being released on parole. In this month’s episode of Herald podcast A Moment In Crime senior journalist Anna Leask revisists the triple murder - explaining what led to Bell’s violent and…
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