Christopher John Lewis

Case record: Christopher John Lewis

Background

Christopher John Lewis was found dead in his cell by Auckland Mt Eden prison staff, around mid-afternoon on the 23 September 1997. Lewis was 32. He electrocuted himself using the wires from a television aerial.

Lewis was on remand awaiting trial for the murder of Tania Furlan.

In July 1996, Mrs Tania Furlan, 27, was found battered to death in her Howick home. Her six week old daughter Tiffany was missing but was later found abandoned outside the Royal Oak Baptist church, 18km away from the family home.

Police believed Lewis intended to kidnap Tania and hold her for ransom to extort money from her husband.

Lewis denied murdering Tania and the case will not come to trial.

Lewis’s lawyer, David Jones, cast doubt on whether Lewis was guilty or framed. Police said they were satisfied Lewis was the killer.

A police witness, whose name has been suppressed, told a depositions hearing earlier in the year that Lewis confessed to the murder.

The offence

The witness said Lewis posed as a delivery man to gain entrance. After Tania let him in, he produced a hammer and told her to lie on the floor.

The witness said Lewis apparently hit her “to only knock her out but realised he had struck too hard.” The witness said Lewis then hit her several more times.

The witness said Lewis left a ransom note and took baby Tiffany to a church where he left her. The witness said he returned to the Furlan residence and recovered his ransom note, which was now no good to him.

Investigation

David Jones cast doubt on whether Lewis was guilty or framed.

Arrest

Lewis had been on remand awaiting trial for the murder of Tania Furlan.

Trial

Sentencing

No sentencing occurred because the case did not come to trial.

Outcome

Lewis died in custody on 23 September 1997 after committing suicide in his cell by electrocuting himself using the wires from a television aerial.

Aftermath

The case may raise doubts as to Lewis’s guilt as the evidence will never be heard, but a look into Lewis’s background revealed a propensity for extreme criminal offending.

Other details

Lewis started young and came to the police’s attention in 1981 as a school boy. He established his own self-styled fascist group called the National Imperial Guerilla Army (NIGA).

Lewis and the two members of his group staged an armed hold-up on the Andersons Bay Post Office in Dunedin. They held two 10-year-old children and the postmistress at gunpoint, stealing $10,000. The three cycled back to school and sat a test, scoring in the top six.

Around the same time, Lewis went to downtown Dunedin during a visit by the Queen. He was armed with a .22 rifle and as an anti-royalist said he intended to shoot her, according to his friends at the time (this could very well have been said only to impress his mates). Instead, growing impatient, he fired a shot into the road.

Lewis, who was then 17, was charged with 16 offences including burglary, arson, aggravated robbery and charges over the discharging of a firearm in the Otago University area during the Queen’s visit. He was sentenced to eight and half years in jail.

He was also a resident on occasion at the Lake Alice mental hospital and Cherry Farm, a psychiatric hospital near Dunedin.

A list of his convictions follows:

• November 1980 — Burglary and theft: 10 months supervision
• January 1981 — Theft: convicted and discharged
• December 1981 — Aggravated robbery, burglary (9 counts), arson, discharging a firearm near a public dwelling, unlawful possession of firearms: 8 1/2 years jail
• January 1982 — Escape from jail: 3 months jail
• August 1984 — Theft of motor vehicle: 6 months jail; burglary: 6 months jail
• March 1985 — Burglary (4 counts); theft of motorcycle: 1 year jail
• July 1986 — Theft: fined $125.00
• June 1987 — Aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated robbery, burglary (2 counts): 7 years jail, 4 years jail, 1 month jail; theft: 1 year jail
• November 1992 — Aggravated robbery: 4 years jail
• March 1996 — Burglary, false passport: repaid $1,000; 1 month jail

Charges laid at time of death included abduction of minor, aggravated robbery (2 counts), murder, and obstruction of justice.