'He took her to the depths of hell' – murder victim's mother speaks out

The 2021 murder of Lena Zhang Harrap appalled New Zealand – a vulnerable victim, abused and killed on a spring day just 20 minutes from home. A day earlier, another young Auckland woman enjoying exercise alone narrowly escaped the same man. SUNDAY reporter Conor Whitten reports on Lena’s life, her death and the bond that has formed between Lena's mother and the woman who escaped her killer.

On the way to the summit of Auckland’s Mount Albert is a short walkway through a thicket of bush. Quiet, secluded and peaceful, it’s also the scene of a crime both callous and cruel. This is where Lena Zhang Harrap was murdered.

Today it’s a shrine to her life.The handrail is wrapped in colourful bandanas, like the ones Lena wore every day. Hanging from tree trunks are painted seashells, with messages of love from family and friends:

“My darling Beanz. Love you forever.”

“Miss you so much.”

“Sweetheart. Love Dad”

Nearly three years have passed since Lena was killed here, but her mother Su Harrap still visits often. It’s a route her daughter walked almost daily. “I just wish she hadn’t taken that walk on that day,” says Harrap.

On September 22, 2021, 27-year-old Lena walked up the path and never returned.

Under the canopy, just meters away, she was sexually assaulted and killed – a sustained attack that lasted two hours. The details are so graphic, her mother still doesn’t know them.

“I know during that time that she suffered,” says Harrap. “And that she left signs of fighting for her life.

“It occurred to me that he had literally taken her to the depths of hell,” she says. “And to think that your daughter, and to think that someone so beautiful, and so innocent, and so loving, was taken that far and taken to that place.”

It’s a scenario her mother still thinks of too often, she says. “But in doing so, I also think of how she lived,” she says.

Lena’s been a fighter since the day she was born.

“I would always call her my little warrior, because she fought to live,” says her mother. “She fought to survive.”

Lena Zhang was born with Down Syndrome. Her birth parents gave up custody when she was five days old, but they remained a part of her life. “I've never asked them the reasons for adopting her out. But what I do know is that they loved her dearly, always have and always will,” says Harrap.

Harrap and her then-husband Martin had decided to adopt a child. “We felt like there's lots of kids out there that maybe need a home. And we just felt that it was something that we'd like to do.

“We weren't looking for a baby and we weren't looking for someone that had Down Syndrome,” says Harrap. But when the opportunity to adopt Lena arose they embraced it.

“It was something that we were committed to.”

Finding a family was only the beginning – Lena needed surgery for a hole in her heart, but repeated bouts of pneumonia meant she couldn’t get it. She spent much of her first two years in hospital and went into cardiac arrest three times.

Her mother feared she wouldn’t survive. “There were times I didn't know if I'd be able to keep going. I didn't know if I'd be able to keep her, which tore me apart. Absolutely tore me apart. Because we loved her. We loved her from day one,” she says.But Lena overcame her early health struggles, growing up with her sisters Sarah and Sacha.

“Right from the word go, they just loved her,” says Harrap. “They knew that she had special needs and somehow it seemed that while the two oldest ones would fight and argue at times, just like normal sibling rivalry, never ever did they argue [with Lena] or Lena argue with them.”

They looked after her – and they had to. She still had issues with sight and balance, on top of delayed development and speech.

Lena was sensitive and aware of her disabilities.

“She did worry at times that she was different. She noticed it and she would sit and cry,” says Harrap. “But she showed an amazing strength of character, and I would say she was really strong.”

Harrap worked hard to foster her daughter’s independence, with help from support workers and groups like Star Jam – a charity for Kiwis with disabilities to express themselves through music and dance. “I remember very early on that joy she found from it,” says Harrap. “They just accepted each other and just connected in a way that was pretty amazing.”

Consuelo Rutherford is a support worker who knew Lena for seven years. They shared a love of crafts, cooking and dancing. “She was very conscious that she has a disability. She knew it,” says Rutherford. “But she never felt like it was a limitation. She was always very confident and nothing stopped her.”

'Key to that attitude were Lena’s walks, familiar to many in the Mount Albert community – a two hour loop up Owairaka, Mount Albert. Her mother had taught her how to navigate it alone.

“I made sure that I had thought of everything, everything I possibly could that would protect her that would make sure that she was safe, short of wrapping her in cotton wool,” says Harrap. “But you let them live. And to me that was really important.”

So almost three years ago, on September 22, Lena set out on a walk on her own. This time it was without her mother’s blessing.

“For some reason, I begged her – and I never beg her. I begged her to walk with me that day,” says Harrap. “And she said no.”

Lena left home early that morning, setting out on her usual walkup Mount Albert. Her mother had gone out to run some errands, but when she got home the house was empty. Lena had been gone for more than three hours.

“I started panicking. And I drove to both walks that she did looking for her,” says Harrap.

“It never even occurred to me that she wasn't alive, just that she was hurting somewhere. And we needed to find her.”

Rutherford started looking around West Auckland, where Lena would sometimes travel to visit. “I knew that it was something very wrong straight away because Lena would never go anywhere without contacting her mum,” says Rutherford.

Harrap called the police and a search began. “All of a sudden you could hear helicopters and the police were here. And that set off whole 'nother panic for me,” she says.

Lena was found by a member of the public, her body in the bushes just off the path. Her family soon learned she’d not only been murdered, but brutally sexually assaulted as well. The prolonged attack had lasted two hours, at the hands of her killer Shamal Sharma.

“How scared she must have been,” says Harrap. “Not knowing what was happening, what he was doing to her.

“It’s like the unimaginable. It's like hearing something from a movie,” she says.

“It's the fact that it happened to my daughter. And wishing it had happened to me – wishing I'd been the one on that walk that day. Wishing that I'd been there and could save her.”

Just 24 hours earlier, Lena’s killer had targeted another victim.

Auckland was in Covid alert level four and Tejal Acharya had cabin fever.

“I was getting a bit antsy,” says Acharya. “Particularly during lockdowns if I didn’t run.”

Just after 6am, Acharya set out in West Auckland to run an 8km loop.

She’d passed halfway and was on her way home when a white car pulled up beside her. The man at the wheel was Sharma, asking for directions to Tudor Road.

“And I didn't know what Tudor Road was,” she says. “And I also thought it's a level four lockdown if you don't know where you're going, you shouldn't be going there.

“My assumption was kind of that he was either on drugs or looking for drugs. And I didn't really think it had anything to do with me at that point in time.”

She quickly realised it was something more sinister. Sharma stalked her for 20 minutes, running red lights and driving erratically. He drove off the road, directly at her. She leapt out of the way and ran for her life.

“I believe that he was looking to target someone, a woman who couldn’t get away from him,” says Acharya.

Like Lena, she was vulnerable. She’d injured her ankle a week beforehand and was running with a notable limp.

“And then to find that 24 hours after someone has followed you and you thought they were going to murder you, they’ve murdered someone else – it was very confronting.”

Those 24 hours have a lasting impact.

“It was a lot of survivor guilt,” says Acharya. “There was a feeling that maybe it would’ve been better if it had been me instead of Lena. Maybe there would’ve been a lot less sadness if it had been me.”

She was nervous to meet Lena’s mother. “I was worried I guess that she might blame me for being there when her daughter wasn’t,” she says.

They met for the first time before Sharma was sentenced. Harrap had a message for Acharya.

“Lena would not have wanted her to die,” says Harrap. “Would not have wanted her to die in her place. If you knew Lena, you would know. And I said that Lena would want you to have a full and happy life”.

Acharya and Harrap walked into court together, hand in hand.

Sharma was sentenced to life imprisonment, with at least 19 and a half years before parole.

Lena’s mum has a message for him as well – a letter with a remarkable theme.

“I know Lena would have already forgiven you, for she had the biggest of hearts and a love for Jesus,” writes Harrap.

“Although your actions have broken my heart, I too choose to forgive you.”

Harrap finds solace in faith and forgiveness.

“I think what he did was evil. There's no other way to describe it. It was evil,” she says.

Harrap has found a way to process the way her daughter’s life ended.

“I know that where was the worst place of her life was also the best. It’s where she saw Jesus, where she was healed. And where she was taken home to be with him.”

Harrap and Acharya sometimes walk together to the place where Lena’s life was taken.

One day in late April, Sunday joined them as they sat on a bench at the top of the path.

“Lena had a way of connecting people,” says Harrap.

“Absolutely,” says Acharya. “I am glad we have got each other.”

It’s no longer a crime scene, but a place of reflection – a monument to Lena’s life and legacy.

“She didn't let fear get in her way. She just did. She just was. And she just lived,” says Harrap. “And I want people to see that... kids like Lena just totally can enrich your life.”

For more on this story watch SUNDAY, tonight at 7.30pm on TVNZ 1, or on TVNZ+.