Ngatai Lynette Manning (also known as Mellory Manning, sometimes rendered as Mallory Manning), aged 27, was murdered in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 18 December 2008. Manning was a sex worker. She was picked up from Manchester Street and presumably taken to a property in Avonside and brutally killed by stabbing, strangling, and assault with a metal pole. Her body was then dumped in the nearby Avon River in Christchurch and found the next morning by a kayaker. Four years later, in March 2012, 24-year-old Mauha Huatahi Fawcett was arrested and charged with her abduction and murder. Following his arrest, police acknowledged there were more people involved and the investigation would be ongoing. Fawcett was a gang prospect, and had fetal alcohol syndrome. A few days after the murder, he was arrested for breaching bail but released. Over the next four years, police interviewed him eleven times. They lied to him, told him not to talk to a lawyer and pressured him into making a false confession. Fawcett was subsequently convicted of Manning's murder, and in 2014, he was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison. His conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2017, when it was finally determined that he was cognitively impaired due to fetal alcohol syndrome, and was coerced into signing the confession. Knowing that Fawcett was not guilty, the police eventually issued a reward for information. No one else has ever been charged.
Manning's background Manning had a difficult upbringing. Her biological father left the family when she and her siblings were young and they grew up with a stepfather, who was described as 'horrible'. At the age of 14, she left school after spending time foster care, and had started using drugs. She began working as a prostitute at 15, and subsequently spent time in prison. Her elder sister Jasmine, who "ran in similar circles", entered witness protection and lost contact with Manning, then killed herself in July 2008. Manning gave up prostitution and joined a methadone treatment programme to get off opioids, as she feared she would die young like her sister. Manning inquired about going to a polytechnic to study art, she went to live with her mother, and she and her partner planned to have a child. However, Manning's poverty and unemployment made her unable to afford Christmas presents for her family, and she returned to street prostitution for "just one night". In the days or hours before her death, she had taken methadone, benzodiazepines, and cannabis.
Events on the day On the evening of 18 December 2008 Manning hitchhiked from Riccarton suburb to central Christchurch. A client picked her up at 9:30 pm from her usual spot at the corner of Manchester and Peterborough Streets and dropped her back there. Manning then had another client which lasted until 10:20 pm. The last sighting of her, by another prostitute, was around 10.35pm. Her cell phone data showed she received a text from a client at 10.41pm, who wanted to see her again. Manning replied to him two minutes later in a neutral manner, suggesting she was not in fear of this individual. The police believed she was kidnapped shortly thereafter, raped and killed, and her body dumped into the Avon River just before 11pm - her watch stopped working at 10.59pm due to water damage. Another prostitute testified that members of the Mongrel Mob gang were standing over prostitutes in central Christchurch that night, demanding $20 from each job, as they "owned the street". The following morning, 19 December 2008, a woman running along Dallington Tce, noticed someone's legs in the Avon River. She signalled a passing kayaker, who pulled the body to the side. By this time, Manning had been in the river for eight hours. She was still clothed and had her handbag over her shoulder. The police identified her from her fingerprints, and soon learned she had been working as a prostitute the night before.
Investigation There were numerous people of interest, specifically men who lived in Christchurch and regularly used prostitutes. Over the next four years, the police interviewed more than 900 people. They obtained Manning's client list, receiving a list of 40 people they were eager to speak to. The police took DNA evidence from a carpark where Manning was known to take her clients. In January 2009 police announced that grass seeds were found on the cardigan Manning was wearing, suggesting a number of places at which the murder could have taken place. In December, 2010 police announced they had narrowed down the location where Manning was murdered to a property on Galbraith Avenue in Avonside, close to where her body had been dumped in the river. A warehouse at the site was a Mongrel Mob hangout at the time and they were known to tax prostitutes. In September 2011, the police confirmed that semen found on Manning's body did not match that of any of her clients that night, and they were focusing their investigation on gang members as a result of the discovery of her death site. Police investigated a number of other leads, including Manning's partner who had a criminal history; a former partner who had convictions for murder and rape; and another man who had beaten Manning so badly she ended up in hospital.
The focus on Mauha Fawcett 24 year old Mauha Fawcett was a Mongrol Mob gang prospect, and was required to ‘tax’ sex workers $20 for each client in Christchurch's red-light area. He also had a difficult upbringing, using drugs as a child, and racking up dozens of convictions as he prospected for the gang. Ten days after Manning's body was found, Fawcett drove to Blenheim, where he crashed his car. He was already known to the police who became suspicious when they heard he left town. A few days after the murder, they arrested him for breaching bail. He was interviewed for four hours without a lawyer and denied having anything to do with Manning's death.
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