A man found guilty of murdering a man whose body was dismembered has an extensive criminal history including introducing a 14-year-old girl to prostitution, taking her money and then administering her morphine and having sex with her, it can now be revealed.
By Sam Sherwood of RNZ
On Thursday, Michael Scott Rodger was found guilty of murdering Richard Leman, whose torso was found in the boot of his own car parked at an abandoned house in Rangiora in April 2023.
Leman's head, legs and arms were still missing.
With the guilty verdict, a suppression order was revoked allowing RNZ to reveal that Rodger previously went by the surname Holdem and has an extensive criminal history which the jury was not informed of.
In 1999, Holdem and his co-accused were jailed in the High Court at Christchurch for eight years after pleading guilty to representative charges of living off the earnings off prostitution, sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16 and above the age of 12 and administering morphine.
Court documents seen by RNZ, state the girl was 14 when she met Holdem and his co-defendant.
Through her involvement with them, she began to use morphine which was administered by them. The two men introduced the girl to prostitution as a means of supporting her drug addiction, a court of appeal decision in 2020 said.
The two men took her "considerable earnings from prostitution" and in return she was supplied and administered morphine.
Holdem's co-defendant appeared to be the "principal force", behind introducing the girl to prostitution, the court said. However, after he suffered a head injury Holdem took over responsibility for sending her out to work, collecting her earnings and administering the morphine.
"During part of this time the complainant was living with the appellant and had sexual intercourse with him. The appellant also had sexual intercourse with the complainant on at least one previous occasion. This was when they first met. The evidence establishes, and was accepted by the sentencing Judge, that at these times the appellant was aware the complainant was only 14-years-old."
As a result of the offending the girl developed Hepatitis C, which a doctor described as a "life sentence".
At the Court of Appeal, Holdem disputed matters of fact including claiming he did not at any stage administer morphine, and said there was no evidence he received money earned by her. He also said he had sexual intercourse with the girl once, and did not know she was 14.
The Court of Appeal said the summary of facts Holdem pleaded guilty to described his activities in administering the morphine and living off her earnings.
The sentencing judge had accepted evidence that Holdem had been overheard by a police officer saying to another person in custody that he was aware of her age and had sexual intercourse with her regardless.
The Court of Appeal dismissed Holdem's appeal.
Victim feared for her life
In 2009, Holdem was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to supply methamphetamine and conspiring to supply cannabis. The offending related to a police investigation launched after they received information that Holdem's mother was sending methamphetamine to him in prison.
Between 1 April and 6 May 2009, police intercepted phone communications between Holdem and his mother while he was in prison.
On 14 April 2009, Holdem's mother posted a parcel to her son which was intercepted by prison staff. The parcel contained three books, one of which contained 1.5 grams of methamphetamine inside several small snaplock bags, hidden in the spine.
During her interview with police, Holdem's mother said her son had been arranging the sales and importing of drugs into prison for "not very long, six months or under, really only the last few months I would say".
Then, in 2017, Holdem was sentenced to 27 months' imprisonment on charges of assault with intent to injure, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of explosives.
Court documents said Holdem had been in an on-off relationship with the victim of the assault for about two years.
"After receiving several threatening text messages from Mr Holdem, which the victim says caused her to fear for her life, the victim barricaded herself inside her home, nailing windows shut and boarding the doors to protect herself from Mr Holdem."
About 11.45pm, on 3 July 2016 Holdem managed to enter the victim's home.
"She was hiding under a bed at the time. He found her using a torch he had with him and then punched her several times in the head with a closed fist. After she covered her face with her hands to protect herself Mr Holdem continued to punch the victim in the stomach.
"Before leaving, it is said he told the victim that she better not tell anyone or else he would find her and kill her and that she had better move out of that place real fast. She suffered clear injuries as a result of the assault, including a very swollen and bruised eye."
The next day police raided Holdem's home where they found a disassembled .22 rifle as well as 16 sticks of explosive gel, 14m of detonation coil and five electronic detonators.
Holdem would later appeal his sentence to the High Court.
The appeal referenced Judge Jane Farish's sentence in the Christchurch District Court where she noted Holdem's "troubling recent history of being before that court."
"At the time of the offending Mr Holdem was subject to release conditions, having earlier in March 2016 been sentenced to eight months' imprisonment on charges of possession of a knife, possession of utensils for the purposes of using methamphetamine and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.
"At the time of that offending he was subject to intensive supervision imposed on 16 January 2016 for charges of methamphetamine possession, driving whilst suspended, and weapons charges."
Judge Farish acknowledged Holdem's "genuine desire to change" but warned this would only be possible if he addressed his drug abuse problems.
In dismissing Holdem's appeal, Justice Gendall said the offending involved "nasty and serious violence after a forced break in by the appellant against his former partner".
"Out of fear of him, the victim had barricaded herself into her home following threats against her by the appellant. It was violence in the nature of serious and intimidating domestic violence and this, in my view, needs to be met with an appropriate and stern response."
'I suggest he's not unlucky, I suggest he's guilty'
On Thursday, Rodger was found guilty of murdering Leman.
Closing arguments were heard in the High Court at Christchurch on Monday in front of Justice Jonathan Eaton.
The jury heard from Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes for more than two hours, where he explained the case against Rodger was "overwhelming".
In response, Rodger's defence lawyer Ethan Huda said there were legitimate questions around the circumstances of Leman's death.
He explained the Crown had failed to mention, in its closing arguments, evidence from a pathologist who found Leman could have been stabbed before being shot.
"There's a reasonable doubt about what happened at the crime scene. There's a reasonable doubt as to what happened around the time of death," Huda said.
"I suggest...that when you get to [the pathologist's] evidence during your deliberation, the Crown's case evaporates into the thin air like candy floss. It's good to look at, it's even good to taste from a certain angle, but it's fluff.
"It's disrespectful to 12 members of the jury to think you can hide evidence from them. A pathetic attempt at proving its case."
The Crown argued Rodger shot Leman twice, first in the leg, then a fatal shot to his chest.
Earlier in the trial, pathologist Dr Leslie Anderson said Leman was also stabbed in the back.
The defence said key Crown witnesses Morgan Grant and Sara Plimmer, who were with Leman the night he died, did not reference a stabbing during their respective testimonies.
The defence also outlined a text message exchange between Grant and another person, three days after Leman's murder, which referenced the involvement of not one, but multiple "fugitives".
In his closing arguments for the Crown, Hawes told jurors "objective evidence" proved there was only one possible killer.
"I suggest the way to approach the case is to start with what is fixed and independent, the pathology, the CCTV and telecommunications records, and all the forensic work and the linkages back to Mr Rodger," he said.
"Any other possible explanation you're looking at bring it back to this core, objective evidence. When you do that, I suggest the evidence clearly converges on one person and one person only and that is Mr Rodger."
Hawes said the accused's claim that another unidentified person was the killer remained implausible.
"Mr Roger would have you believe he's unlucky.
"It's not simply bad luck, that he was at the scene. It certainly was for Richard Leman. It's not bad luck that both eyewitnesses name him as the perpetrator.
"I suggest he's not unlucky, I suggest he's guilty."
The Crown said no-one gave Leman first-aid or called emergency services and Leman died within minutes.
The jury heard that Rodger threatened to kill Grant and Plimmer, took Leman's drugs and cash and dragged his body into another room.
SHARE ME