A coroner's report has been released explaining the deaths of Glenys Stanton, Trevor Waite and John Mowatt, who were caught up in a tragic love triangle in August 2013.
The report, released today, shows Mr Mowatt shot the others dead in Mr Waite's home on the night of August 24, and then shot himself dead three days later in Woodhill Forest Park in Auckland in front of police.
On the morning of August 25, the bodies of Mr Waite and Ms Stanton were found in the bedroom of Mr Waite's rental home in Opaheke.
Mr Waite's then 18-year-old daughter Kelsey called emergency services at 11:20am.
The couple had been shot multiple times by Mr Mowatt, who had been a former boyfriend of Ms Stanton's.
Mr Mowatt and Ms Stanton met on an online dating site in April 2013 and began a relationship. Mr Mowatt, 51, was a father of three children. He and his wife of 26 years had separated two years before his death.
Family told police Mr Mowatt appeared to be in a bad way, not coping emotionally from his previous marriage break-up, and not eating or sleeping properly.
Ms Stanton, 47, was a mother-of-two and a flight attendant, while 51-year-old Mr Waite was a management accountant for Vero Insurance and had with three children.
Both also met on an internet dating site, and had met up from time to time, shortly after Mr Mowatt and Ms Stanton's relationship ended. They arranged to meet at Mr Waite's property southeast of Papakura on the night of August 23.
Early the next morning, Mr Mowatt entered the property at Ponga Rd and shot and killed both Mr Waite and Ms Stanton.
Mr Waite's daughter had planned to stay at her father's house along with a friend that night after a party nearby. She could not get hold of her father during day so she and another friend stayed at the house later that night, not noticing anything out of place.
The next morning she found her father and Ms Stanton had been shot dead in his room.
Ms Stanton's death was caused by a gunshot to her neck. She had been the victim of eight gunshots in total from a .22 calibre semiautomatic firearm.
They were killed sometime after 9pm on Friday and before Kelsey woke up on Saturday. In total 29 rounds were fired within the bedroom or through the ranch slider window.
Police contacted Mr Mowatt's friend John to get hold of Mr Mowatt following the deaths of Ms Stanton and Mr Waite. He told John he had firearms, was north of Auckland and had "gone bush".
A conversation between Mr Mowatt and his son on the night of August 27, showed Mr Mowatt was "all over the place emotionally" and told his son he was locked in a forest so his son could not help him. He asked his son to look after his sister and the call ended.
Mr Mowatt's car was found by a security guard locking up Woodhill Forest Park in Auckland that night. He was located 150 metres from his vehicle by police at 11:25pm, where he shot himself.
A post-mortem examination confirmed he had died from a single self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
"I am satisfied that Mr Mowatt, in shooting himself, did so knowing that he would die and intending that consequence and that his death was thus a suicide," says coroner Katharine Greig.
Police later found that Mr Mowatt had owned a number of guns and weapons.
3 News
