Blessie Gotingco's widower Antonio Gotingco talks about his childhood sweetheart, what he thinks of the man who killed her, and his campaign to sue the Department of Corrections.
Antonio Gotingco, husband of murder victim Bless Goingco, says the Department of Corrections and Corrections Minister Judith Collins have “blood on their hands” for releasing Tony Robertson into his family's neighbourhood.
“They must be willing to take responsibility," he says.
“It is them at the end of the day who put that evil person there. In fact, they just issued a death warrant for my wife when they put the evil person in our neighbourhood.”
Mr Gotingco says he will sue Corrections for wrongful death to “tell them ‘never again’.”
“I just want to fight back. I’m in the fighting mode, and, you know, I’ll fight back all the way to Hell.”
He isn’t getting any legal support for his case and is fundraising on Give A Little, but calls for government funding of legal support for victims.
“They expect that sooner or later this thing will happen. It is just as if they are putting a snake in a hen house”
A government-ordered report’s claim that “only Robertson” is responsible for Blessie's killing is “a huge insult to my intelligence, not only mine but to the intelligence of the general public," he says.
Victim’s husband says in other countries “where they hold the integrity of a person at the very high level” the government would have apologised and someone would have taken responsibility and resigned.
“I am surprised that I’m still alive today, you know. Every night I go to sleep, I always think of her.”
Earlier this week, Ms Collins said Tony Robertson had served his full eight-year term in prison for his previous offence (the kidnap and molestation of a five-year-old girl), having been denied parole on three occasions because of his lack of remorse.
He was subject to electronic monitoring after his release in December 2013, but residents of Birkdale, Auckland were not told he had been released into their community. He raped and killed Blessie Gotingco in May 2014.
On August 6, 2015, Roberton (28) was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum-non-parole period of 24 years for the murder and preventive detention for the rape. Preventive detention is an open-ended jail term which means the defendant can be imprisoned indefinitely or recalled at any time.
RAW DATA: The Nation transcript: Lisa Owen interviews Antonio Gotingco
Watch the interview here
Lisa Owen began the interview by asking Antonio to tell her about his wife.
Antonio Gotingco: Well, I’ve known Blessie for the past… we’ve been together for about 35 years. And as a person, Blessie is a wonderful human being. She is a very good wife to me and perfect mum to my children. Yep, probably as a friend, she’s a good friend, always ready to lend a helping hand to anybody, and… I can’t really exactly find the right words to express, you know, the feeling that I have for her. You’re all aware that English is my second language, but I think for me, I should say that Blessie was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Lisa Owen: Antonio, that’s the only thing that you said in the past tense. You talk about Blessie like she’s still here.
Yes. I can’t deny the fact that sometimes maybe you can call it daydreaming. I always… You know, me and Blessie would like to drive around Auckland during her day off, and I normally am doing it alone now or, you know… We are simple people. We have small joys. But, you know, the joy of being together for us is probably the happiest moments of our lives.
What is your life like now every day that you wake up and you know she’s not there and she’s not going to be there?
Yes. In fact, I am surprised that I’m still alive today, you know. Every night I go to sleep, I always think of her. You know, every day that I wake up, first thing I think of is of her. I normally, you know, kiss her urn and talk to her. It’s just like my relationship with her now is just like my relationship with God. You talk with God; I talk to her as if she is there. It’s just a day-to-day thing for me to survive, really. I really hope that she’s here with me now, but that’s near… near thing’s impossible, really. I mean, that’s how I miss her, really. My life now is lonely, probably miserable to a certain extent. Yep, but we just have to endure and continue on living. As they say, we cannot change the past. However, by saying that, the best thing is that I always carry her in my heart. The memories that I have with her is, as I’ve said, probably the best memories I will have in my entire existence here.
This was a specially brutal attack. How do you and your family cope with that knowledge?
Well, it’s really painful, really painful. You know, when that happened, I think you are aware that I was out of the country. It was both mixed emotions of pain, sorrow and being surprised that this thing happened here in New Zealand, which we thought is a very safe country to live in. I cannot describe the exact pain that I am feeling. I don’t think that there is a barometer that measures your emotional grief, but if I may say it in one word, it’s more probably painful than any physical abuse that you experience.
You still live in your home, your family home. You live a few hundred metres from where your wife was taken from you. You must walk up that street most days.
Yes, every day, as I’ve said, either you pass the other way from Salisbury going up to Birkdale Road, you pass where the exact place where she was abducted, run down by the car and abducted. You pass the other way, going to Eskdale, you pass the cemetery where her body was dumped. But for me, I have to accept this be the facts, because for me, the pain that we are experiencing now is nothing compared to the pain that my wife was experiencing in the manner of how she died. So I’m willing to take it, okay. I’m willing to live. And, you know, people were asking me if it would help if I moved to a new place. And I answered them, ‘Why should I?’ We have very good memories in this house. My wife loves living in this house. I like the memories that we shared here. Why should I run away? If there is anybody who should be worried about that, it’s probably, you know, those people who are partly to blame in the death of my wife.
And I want to come to that, but before then, you are a man who has faith, great faith. How do you keep that faith given what’s happened?
Well, you know, my friend told me a while back when this happened, you know, when this happened to you, sometimes you lose your faith, you lose your faith with God, you even lose faith in humanity in general, right? But I always tell people that, you know, I just have to endure and accept the fact that this happened to us. There is no point in denying, okay. There is no point in running away from it. This happened to us. In fact, I tell my family that we must stand up and be brave enough, okay. We look forward in how we can do things to bring justice to my wife. It’s very painful. In fact, it’s probably the most painful thing that can ever happen to a man, okay. And I just want to fight back now. I just want to fight back. I’m in the fighting mode, and, you know, I’ll fight back all the way to Hell.
The report that came out this week, it said that Robertson and only Robertson can be held responsible for what happened to your wife. Do you believe that?
Personally, I don’t believe in that, and I think majority of the people in this country doesn’t believe in that. In fact, when I heard that statement coming out from the public inquiry, I feel bad. It is a huge insult to my intelligence, not only mine alone but to the intelligence of the general public. They must be willing to take the responsibility based on the corresponding authority. They were the authority who is supposedly managing that evil person. In fact, anybody involved in putting the criminal in our neighbourhood has blood on their hands. They could not just say it was him who acted alone. They should be responsible, be brave enough to front up and say that, ‘We’re sorry. We could have done better.’ If this thing happened in other country, a lot of government would readily admit. I won’t mention other countries, but probably most countries in Asia, where they hold integrity of a person at the very high level. Sometimes these people resign, even to the extent of committing suicide. I’m not asking for them to do that, but they must feel responsible, because if not, who else is responsible?
You said then, ‘They have blood on their hands.’ That’s a really strong thing to say. You believe categorically…?
I believe in that. I believe that they have blood on their hands, okay, because the main reason why it happened? Because they put the criminal in our neighbourhood. And all the records indicate that this was just a matter of time that this offender will reoffend again, as they say. They are aware of that, but they don’t care. All they care of, probably, is just implementing their job, okay, doing it the easy way. They don’t care about safety of the general public. And that’s what really angers me. It’s quite painful, really. You know, putting him there, and what do they expect? They expect that sooner or later, this thing will happen. It is just as if they are putting a snake in a hen house.
They would say they care very much about public safety, that they did everything that they could, that this man was evil.
That’s the point that I’m… you know, challenge them, if I may use that word. They know that he is evil, and why put him in a peaceful and safe neighbourhood? Okay, they have the control. They have the control. They cannot just say that, you know. Robertson was there because they put him there. They allow him to live there, and they allow him to make our neighbourhood as if it is his hunting ground.
That report is unequivocal, isn’t it, Antonio? It is unequivocal that your wife’s murder was not their fault. That’s what it says.
Yes, but… deep in my heart, I don’t really believe in that. What they’re saying is all just BS, okay. It’s been a while now since that terrible thing happened to us, and even at this stage, they are still what they call as the denial stage of their responsibility. They must front up. They must say that, yep, because if they did everything possible, okay, my wife would still be alive today. And a lot of people, I think the general public, back me on that. If they think that they really did the right thing, why is my wife dead? That is the question.
Can you understand that sometimes that very terrible, bad things happen despite people doing their best? Would you accept that in some cases?
Well, in some cases, but not in this case. I don’t think they did their best in this case.
So you think they should be held responsible for this man’s actions?
Yes, I think so. Yep, I think so. I think so, because it is them at the end of the day who put that evil person there, okay. In fact, they just issued a death warrant for my wife, okay, when they put the evil person in our neighbourhood.
What about the man who did this?
Well, I could not probably use a better English term, but we have a saying in my dialect. He’s a “pisting yawa.” Maybe I could not use that language literally in English. It might be censored. But he is, you know… I think he was given… all the necessary support that the New Zealand government have extended to him, but he never changed. In fact, if I remember during his first offence, the judge was very merciful, okay, in sentencing him, stating that as a young man he wasn’t a lost cause and everything, so on and so forth, okay. He was lucky that the judge was merciful, but do you think he was merciful for what he did to my wife? I don’t think he extended the same courtesy.
Would you like him to die in jail?
Well, dying, killing him is an understatement, I think. I will follow him all the way to the gates of Hell.
Antonio, you’ve written an open letter to your fellow New Zealanders. What does your letter say?
Well, basically the context of the letter is to appeal for support as far as the general public is concerned. And I should maybe take this opportunity to thank the general public of New Zealand for the support that they have extended to us. We are going to face probably the biggest challenge of our life, okay, because we are planning to continue our fight and probably file a civil case against the Department of Corrections in particular. So we are fighting the establishment, okay. It can be comparable to the epic battle between David and Goliath, okay. But deep in my heart, I feel very strongly that we’re going to come out victorious. During the funeral service of my wife, I remember our parish priest had mentioned in his home village, and I’d like to quote him. He said that in the end, the good will always win against evil. I personally believe that the Lord will enable us to crumple the king of evil beneath our feet. And, you know, I would like to ask assistance from the general public, even if, you know, you donate just $1, it would go a long, long way for us. And in the end, we will show the government the power of the people. We will tell them, ‘Never again.’
In your letter, you talk about the fact that you aren’t getting any legal help.
That’s right.
Do you think you should?
I think I should. The government’s quite generous in extending, you know, uncapped budget for the legal expenses of criminals, but as far as the victim is concerned, they don’t. They don’t, okay. I even already asked Victim Support. I don’t need a psychiatrist. I don’t need a psychologist. I think I’m fine. What I need is legal advice, and I need a lawyer.
But you’re left asking people…
That’s right.
…to give a dollar here and there.
That’s right.
In your letter, you mentioned that you came to New Zealand. You thought this was a safe place to raise your family.
Yes, we strongly believed, not only for me. In fact, it was Blessie, my wife, who likes to move to New Zealand, because she believes in New Zealand.
Will it still be your home, do you think, Antonio?
Well, as they say, never say never again. I… I love this country, okay. I’ve been here… My children love staying here. This is home, really. But with what happened to me, personally, I don’t think that, you know, I could stay here happily again with these memories all coming back. And I should say, probably, you know, I have to try living elsewhere, okay, and that’s a very difficult thing to do.
You think that maybe you should move somewhere else?
I think so.
Away from New Zealand?
Yes. Run away for a little while maybe. I just have to try it, you know.
After your battle?
Yes, yes. And, you know, if I may quote again General Douglas MacArthur, he said, ‘I will return.’ And I’m looking forward to that too.
Tune into NBR Radio’s Sunday Business with Andrew Patterson on Sunday morning, for analysis and feature-length interviews.
