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  • Published: 24 April 2013
  • ISBN: 9781742539317
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 240
Categories:

Christie: A Family's Tragic Loss and a Mother's Fight for Justice



Raw, moving and thought-provoking, Christie is a tribute to a daughter taken too soon.

On the morning of 7 November 2011, Tracey Marceau lived every mother's worst nightmare. A young man entered her home, pushing Tracey to the side before kicking and repeatedly stabbing her daughter. Christie died in her mother's arms. Christie's killer, Akshay Chand, was released on bail just a month earlier for kidnapping Christie, during which he threatened to rape and kill her. Christie had begged the courts to keep him in custody, fearing for her life. Her death was entirely preventable.

Christie is the story of her life, the events leading up to her killing, and previously untold details of what happened that day. Tracey shares how she and the family pulled together amid unthinkable tragedy and got their lives back on track. Importantly, this book questions how a calculating, cold-blooded killer could be found not guiltily on grounds on insanity, and how our country's bail laws could let an ordinary family down so disastrously.

Raw, moving and thought-provoking, Christie is a tribute to a daughter taken too soon.
'Christie will never be able to tell her story herself. But as the mum of such a bright star, I will ensure she is heard. I will never give up because I know that she never would have.' Tracey Marceau
Royalties from the sale of this book go to The Christie Marceau Charitable Trust

  • Published: 24 April 2013
  • ISBN: 9781742539317
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 240
Categories:

About the authors

Anna Leask

ANNA LEASK was born and raised in Canterbury. She has worked for the New Zealand Herald since 2008 and is currently a senior reporter, covering crime and justice for the daily newspaper as well as for the Weekend Herald and Herald on Sunday.
Her most notable investigations include the death of Auckland teenager Christie Marceau, who was stabbed to death in her own home by a man on bail for kidnapping and assaulting her two months earlier; the Opaheke ‘bedroom murders’, in which John Mowat gunned down his ex-girlfriend and her new partner before taking his own life in an Auckland forest; the reinvestigation of Arthur Allan Thomas, 43 years after the double murders for which he served nine years in prison before being pardoned; and the Christchurch ‘House of Horrors’ murderer Jason Somerville, who killed his wife and buried her under his East Christchurch house a year after doing the same to his neighbour Tisha Lowery.
Leask covered the Pike River Mine disaster in 2010, the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes, Fiji’s Cyclone Winston in early 2016, and travelled to Gallipoli in 2015 to cover the centenary of the Anzac landings. She won a Canon Media Award for crime and justice reporting in 2014.

Tracey Marceau

Tracey Marceau was born in Kent, England, and moved to Auckland with her parents at a young age. She worked for many years as an office manager for a civil engineering company on Auckland's North Shore, where she and her husband, Brian, raised their daughters Heather and Christie.

In 2011, Tracey was thrust into the media spotlight when Christie was killed in their family home by a teenager who was free on bail. Two months earlier, he had kidnapped Christie and threatened her with a knife. After Christie died, Tracey spearheaded a campaign aimed at strengthening bail laws and preventing further deaths.

Tracey and Brian now live in Australia, with Christie's dog Chief.