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Raymond
Wahia RATIMA
Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics:
Parricide
- Revenge
Number of victims: 7
Date of murders:
June 26,
1992
Date of arrest:
Same day
Date of birth: 1967
Victims profile: His sister-in-law Nicola Ferguson, Bevan Tepu, their
child Stephen, 2; Nicola's brother Phillip Ferguson, and his own
children Piripi, 6, Barney, 4, and Stacey, 2
Método de matar: Arma blanca - Golpes con objeto
Location: Masterton, Wellington, New Zealand
Status: Sentenced to life in prison in August 1992
In June 1992, 25-year-old fellow New Zealander Raymond Ratima bludgeoned and
stabbed to death seven relatives, including five children, in the quiet
rural town of Masterton, north of Wellington.
Raymond Wahia Ratima
This is a
tragic story of lives cut short by a man driven by despair and poverty,
who sought retribution from his family by murdering seven people
including his children before being overpowered.
Victims:
Twenty-one year old Bevan Tepu and his son Steven aged 2, sister-in-law
Nicola Fergusson 20 and teenager Phillip 14, and the Ratima children
Piripi 6, Barney 4, and 2 year old Stacey Ratima.
Raymond Wahia
Ratima and his wife, Toni, were facing hard times at the beginning of
1992. Unable to afford increased rent and having three young sons, they
moved into Toni's parents home in Judds Street, Masterton. Raymond and
Toni had relationship problems around this time, a fact that would be
the main contributor to the events that were to follow.
In June, after a
serious altercation with his wife and family, Ratima was forced out of
the Judds Street home. He felt his world was crashing down and after
looking to social services and lawyers for help in finding a place to
stay, he was in despair. After days of little sleep and food, his mind
apparently turned to revenge and murder.
On June 26 1992,
Toni set off to meet her parents, Phillip and Rebecca Fergusson at a
local pub, leaving her three young sons, Piripi, Barney and Stacey at
home with her sister Nicola. Also at home that night were Toni's brother
Phillip, Nicola's de facto Bevan Tepu, and their son Steven.
At 9.25 pm,
Ratima entered the house and stabbed and bludgeoned all seven family
members to death. The attack also included his three sons whom he left
dead on his wife's bed with a bible on top of them. The other adult
victims were piled on top of each other in another bedroom. The deadly
visit continued as Raymond lay in wait for his wife and in-laws to
return home, intending to kill them. Nicola's father, on entering the
house was attacked by Ratima with a softball bat and Toni managed to
escape and call for help. By the time the police arrived, Nicola's
father Phillip had subdued Ratima, fortunately preventing more from
dying.
The dreadful
events inside the house that night will never be forgotten by the
survivors and by the police who attended the scene. Ratima's fury and
the dreadful loss of innocent lives will continue to haunt them all as
long as they live.
Raymond Ratima
expressed remorse at his court trial and the killings were quite out of
character. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
This case is
featured in the book "Shattered Dreams - Families of New Zealand Murder
Victims Speak Out" by Bill O'Brien. It is a personal account of the
tragedy written by Debbie Woodward, Raymond Ratima's sister-in-law.
Crime.co.nz
Raymond Wahia Ratima
Safenz.org.nz
Offences
On the 25th
June 1992 in Masterton, murdered seven members of his family plus an
unborn child.
Victims
Barney Rapana
Ratima
Piripi Dion Ratima
Stacey Raymond Ratima
Bevan Tepu
Steven Tepu
Nicola Fergusson
Phillip Fergusson
Age
Born 1967
Current Location
Prison
Parole/Release Dates
Was sentenced to
ten years in August 1992.
Parole
eligibility from June 2002, strenuously resisted by family and others
each time.
Next hearing
November 2011 as the Parole Board have sensibly postponed it for another
three years
Background
An unemployed shearer, Raymond
Wahia Ratima, (aged 25), clubbed and stabbed 7 family members to death,
including his 3 children, his brother in law and sister in law who was 8
months pregnant. Police also charged him with the death of the unborn
baby. Ratima was separated from his wife, (who was not killed), and had
been under financial and marital stress. Ratima's mental status is
unclear.
Ratima Was Driver In 1984 Fatal
Crash, according to a Herald story on 29th June, 1992.
Mass murderer Ratima's latest
parole bid declined
NzHerald.co.nz
Friday
Jun 20, 2008
The Parole Board today refused
mass murderer Raymond Wahia Ratima's latest bid for freedom noting that
he was back on drugs.
Ratima killed seven people,
including three of his own children, on a murderous rampage in Masterton
in 1992.
The board said that at a parole
hearing last year Ratima year presented himself as a disciplined and
articulate man, who appeared to have overcome an earlier history of
being an identified drug user.
"Sadly that has not been the
case."
He had reverted to cannabis use,
apparently blaming a death in his family.
The board said it would see him
again in three months to consider a "postponement order" to give the
families of victims relief from the annual round of parole hearings".
On June 25, 1992, Ratima, then
aged 25, killed his sister-in-law Nicola Ferguson, Bevan Tepu, their
child Stephen, Nicola's brother Phillip Ferguson junior, and his own
children Piripi, Barney and Stacey.
He was sentenced to life
imprisonment on seven charges of murder, 10 years' imprisonment for
killing an unborn child and seven years' imprisonment for attempted
murder..
When Ratima was sentenced in
1992 the judge urged the board to proceed "only with the greatest
caution" when the question of parole came up.
