Kelly Paula Gush

For the crime of being sick during dinner, Darren Paul Mackness fatally kicked 12-year-old Kelly in the head at their Hamilton home. He was convicted of murder in 2003. The horror for the two sisters began in 1999 when their parents befriended Mackness. "Mum and Dad first met him through a parenting course in 1999. He ended up moving in. Then Mum left Dad to be with him. "We found a flat. It was okay at the start, till he started hitting us. When we moved to Kelly's last house, where she died, it got worse. We lived in hell. We were scared." Their terror was exposed during the murder trial in 2003. The girls were locked in separate rooms and only allowed out to go to school, to eat, and to use the toilet during the day. At night, they were given buckets to use. Kylie was 13 when Kelly was kicked to death. Mackness had separated the two, and targeted Kelly, Kylie said. "We used to be in the same room, but then he got angry as we were close, so he split us up. "Kelly told me that when Mum took us to try get some money out, but she couldn't - Darren blamed Kelly for it. That's when it started." Kelly knew, when the machine declined her mum's request for money, that she wouldn't survive. That's when she told Kylie - there, at the ATM machine - "I will always love you". Mackness was angry about the money. When they were let out of their bedrooms for dinner, they could feel him simmering. Kelly, who was ill, vomited after two mouthfuls of macaroni and cheese. Mackness, who'd trained in martial arts, ordered Kelly to clean it up, then he kicked her twice in the head. Then he locked her in her room again. Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/81767505/faces-...

Kelly suffered a brain haemorrhage and died in the Starship hospital, Auckland. Kelly and her sister had been let out of their room for dinner. They sat on the floor and ate macaroni cheese but after a couple of mouthfuls Kelly vomited. Kelly's mother gave her a bucket and mop to clean it up and Mackness pushed Kelly into the bathroom and the brutal killing happened. The girl, only 1.5m tall and weighing 26kg, had endured a sad life with her sister, 14-year-old Kylie, spending most of her time at home locked in her spartan bedroom. The girls' room was locked from the outside and Mackness had nailed the windows shut. When the girls needed to use the bathroom they knocked on the door, or at night they were left a bucket. Controlling the girls and their mother was something the evil Mackness was skilled at. Source: Predator Awareness NZ Campaign https://www.facebook.com/264814443666745/posts/darran-paul-mackness...