Justice for Blessie will be a long process

The Daily Mail has picked up the developing story of the prosecution of the man charged with the slaying of Blessie Gotingco. The man became aggressive when appeared before the judge and had to be forcibly removed from court.
Incredibly, Blessie will be denied justice until well into next year. The murder trial will not commence until March 2015, almost a year after Blessie’s death. Our thoughts are with her family and friends for the difficult months that lie ahead.

The 27-year-old man accused of murdering Auckland mother-of-three Blessie Gotingco had to be removed from court after an angry outburst.

The man appeared in the High Court at Auckland on Wednesday charged with the murder of 56-year-old Mrs Gotingco who was on her way home from work when she was killed last month.

But during Justice Tim Brewer’s suppression ruling, the accused began swearing and was forcibly removed from the court.

Justice Brewer maintained the accused’s name suppression and set a three-week trial date for March next year.

A crowd of Mrs Gotingco’s supporters gathered outside the court and erected signs with messages such as “Justice for Blessie”, “Life for a life” and “P.S. John Key we ain’t no rent a crowd.”

Mrs Gotingco’s body was found in a North Shore cemetery two days after she disappeared on her way home on May 24.

Her phone, shoes and other personal items were found on the same night she disappeared near the stop where she got off a bus on her way home from work in central Auckland’s Fanshawe St.

The accused, who lived at an apartment block not far from where Mrs Gotingco lived, was arrested just days after Mrs Gotingco’s body was found.

Hundreds of mourners attended the 56-year-old’s funeral at the Northcote church where she and her family were parishioners.