}

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Murder in Paeroa

For the second time in my life, someone I knew was murdered. His name was Jordan Voudouris and he owned Mykonos Pizza and Pasta takeaways in Paeroa. His body was found behind his shop around 6am Monday. The NZ Police have now confirmed that Jordan was murdered.

We lived in Paeroa when Jordan opened Mykonos, and it was a very welcome addition: At the time, there were a couple places with Chinese food, an Indian restaurant that did takeaways, and a burger bar, and not much else for nighttime takeaways (there’s more, and greater variety, now). So, Jordan brought something new and good—maybe too good, because we ordered from there often (what can I say? I love pizza!).

As a result, we got to know Jordan a bit, and always found him friendly, outgoing and attentive to his customers. We liked him. It’s plain from reading the news accounts that we weren’t the only ones.

The head of the Paeroa’s business promotion group told TVNZ’s One News, "One act of violence has robbed a community of an awesome man, an awesome business owner, a father, brother and son." They’re planning on having a community memorial service—maybe not untypical for small town New Zealand, but even so, such outpouring for a local business owner is pretty remarkable in my book.

We moved from Paeroa several years ago, but when back visiting family we sometimes still had food from Mykonos, and it was still as good as we remembered. Jordan was there, always busy, always working hard, always friendly. It’s hard to accept that he’s gone.

The NZ Police have released CTV images of two men they’re looking for because they may be connected to this crime, having staged two violent crimes in Waihi and Katikati—both on State Highway 2, as is Paeroa. They urge anyone with any information on the two men, or who noticed any suspicious activity or erratic driving on State Highway 2 between 6am and 6:20am on Monday, 18 June 2012, to contact Waihi Police on (07) 863-8179, or Paeroa Police on (07) 862-8744. Information can also be left anonymously with Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

I hope two things: First, I hope the murderers aren’t from Paeroa, because that would be even harder on the community. Second, I hope they catch the criminals quickly, for everyone’s sake.

Paeroa just won’t be the same, though.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is time NZ woke up and set a standard that dealt with this type of unprovoked assault that ends in the death of the victim.Lets not burden our taxes by housing the recycled puss that commit these crimes that result in the death of their innocent victims.100% support of introducing the death penalty.

Now that's real justice!
Bruce Mac Tga

Arthur Schenck said...

Well, I can't agree with you there. The death penalty does nothing to prevent murders because most murders are either "crimes of passion" (no thought in advance) or spontaneous. So, the existence of a death penalty doesn't deter murders because they didn't plan on murdering anyone in the first place.

Also, in this country, very few murders have ever been committed by people who have already murdered someone (not counting multiple murders in the same crime). These are the people who might theoretically be deterred.

Crime has always been with humanity and it always will be. Tougher sentencing won't and can't change that. However, we can change the creation of criminals—stop them from ever growing up to commit crimes, but that's much, MUCH harder than tougher sentences. I'm not sure society has the will or courage to do that.

Anonymous said...

If a dog goes mad you shoot it!As a long time tax payer I object to funding low life such as this,then there's the bloody ACC I have to pay when one of these low life scum tries to escape and alas only breaks his leg-not his neck.My vote for re-intro of the Death penalty!

Roger Owen Green said...

In the US, there seems to be a correlation between murder and the death penalty. Texas, e.g., has the death penalty, and use it frequently, but it does not seem to have quashed murder.

Roger Owen Green said...

It occurred to me that I've know two people who have been murdered. Don't think I've ever written about them.