Gwenda Sloane

Case record: Gwenda Sloane

Background

Gwenda Leigh Sloane, also known as Pluss, was a Rotorua process worker aged 44 at the time of sentencing. Michelle Hoffman-Tamm was her long-term female partner and lover, and the two women had been friends for more than 20 years and had a casual sexual relationship that had become more intense recently.

The offence

Michelle Hoffman-Tamm disappeared after leaving the Philip St, Rotorua home she shared with Sloane to visit a friend on November 7. Police later found her body on November 23 in a forested area just off State Highway 38 near Murupara.

Sloane pleaded guilty to murdering Michelle Hoffman-Tamm. The police summary of facts described a drinking session at Sloane’s Holland St house on the evening of November 7. Sloane told police she “lost it” when she thought Michelle Hoffman-Tamm had taken $20 from her wallet. Sloane launched a frenzied attack that left Michelle Hoffman-Tamm with 33 stab wounds and her ears severed, including one ear shoved in her mouth.

Police said Michelle Hoffman-Tamm’s body lay on Sloane’s kitchen floor for more than a day before Sloane wrapped up the body, put it in her car, and buried it in a ditch near Murupara.

Justice Patrick Keane called the attack brutal and callous and said Sloane’s intention could only have been to mutilate Michelle Hoffman-Tamm.

Investigation

Police formally identified the body found in a forested area close to State Highway 38 near Murupara as that of Michelle Hoffman-Tamm. The investigation treated the disappearance as a homicide inquiry after a body was confirmed. Police continued forensic examination at an address in Holland Street for a couple more days and sought information about people in the Holland Street area between 6pm on Wednesday November 7 and Sunday November 11, and in Victoria Street between Sunday November 11 and Monday November 12.

Police wanted to hear from anyone who was in the area of Holland Street and Victoria Street at the relevant times, and they were particularly interested in the movements of a two-tone light-coloured Subaru Legacy stationwagon between November 7 and 12 travelling around Rotorua or between Rotorua, Whakatane and Murupara.

A police statement said police expected to continue their forensic examination and advised Michelle’s family was being kept up to date.

Arrest

A 44-year-old woman (Sloane) was arrested and charged with common assault in connection with the case. Sloane appeared at Rotorua District Court and was remanded in custody to reappear in court on December 3. Further charges were likely, and police said they were unable to provide further detail.

Sloane was originally charged with assault but it was upgraded to murder on December 3.

Trial

Sloane pleaded guilty to the murder of Michelle Hoffman-Tamm in the Rotorua District Court. In court, Sergeant Bill Scott read out the police summary of facts.

Sloane sent Michelle Hoffman-Tamm a text message at about 11pm on November 7 saying: “hello my little monkey want to have some fun”.

Michelle Hoffman-Tamm went to Sloane’s Holland St home, and the two women drove to Liquor King where they bought three dozen beer. They returned to Sloane’s home, drank, and slept together. During the evening, Sloane became “enraged” and launched a “frenzied attack” on Michelle Hoffman-Tamm.

The summary stated Sloane used two knives, one 4.5cm in width and the other about 1cm in width, to inflict 33 stab wounds mainly to Michelle Hoffman-Tamm’s chest and back. Police said Michelle Hoffman-Tamm also suffered blunt force trauma to the head and lost several teeth.

Police said up to 25 of the stab wounds had potentially been inflicted after death, including a cut across Michelle Hoffman-Tamm’s throat and a cut from her mouth across her face. Both ears were severed after death and one was put in her mouth.

Sloane’s account to police included that she believed Michelle Hoffman-Tamm had taken $20 from her wallet. She said she had been drinking and only recalled parts of what happened, but remembered attacking Michelle Hoffman-Tamm, punching her, and stabbing her. Sloane also said she remembered Michelle Hoffman-Tamm being face down on the floor, straddling her, and hitting her repeatedly on the back of the head with a kitchen drawer.

Police said Sloane left the body on the kitchen floor all the next day, November 8, while she sat on her bed drinking the rest of the beer before disposing of the body the following morning.

Sloane bought black plastic bags and duct tape and wrapped up the body on the morning of November 9. She put it in the back of her Subaru and drove towards Whakatane looking for somewhere to dispose of it. She found a 1.5m deep ditch near Murupara and buried the body, covering it with rubbish and dirt. She later hired a domestic carpet cleaning machine to clean up the house.

Police said Sloane was spoken to three times by police during routine investigations but offered no assistance and attempted to distance herself. Police inquiries led them back to her on November 22, when she admitted what had happened and led police to the body. Police said without this assistance they were unlikely to have found the body.

Sloane also disposed of cleaning materials and bloodied towels by placing them in rubbish bags and dropping them on a neighbouring street where they were picked up by the council during usual rubbish collection. Police said Sloane also took Michelle Hoffman-Tamm’s bike to a bike stand on Te Ngae Rd.

Sloane appeared genuinely upset about what had happened, according to the summary.

Sentencing

Sloane was remanded in custody for sentencing in the High Court at Rotorua on February 4. She was sentenced in the High Court at Rotorua by Justice Patrick Keane to life in prison with a minimum non-parole of 17 years.

Rhys Hoffman, Michelle Hoffman-Tamm’s 25-year-old son, read out his victim impact statement in court, pausing several times to compose himself. He told the court that he was struggling to cope with what had happened to his mother.

Rhys Hoffman said: “I have lost all trust in the world and I understand when people say they have lost everything and it's gut-wrenching,'' “I never got to make up for all the times I wasn't there for my mum.'' He said when his mother was missing he never imagined it would turn out like this. “I was willing to take on anything but now my outlook has changed,''

Victim impact statements from five other family members were presented to the court. They spoke of their added grief at the gruesome manner in which Michelle Hoffman-Tamm died.

Outside court after sentencing, Rhys Hoffman said he had been hoping for a longer sentence and: “There's not much we can do other than take it and move on and hope that everyone else is going to do the same.''

Other details

Michelle Hoffman-Tamm’s sister Jan Donlan said it hadn’t been very pleasant hearing what had happened to the woman she described as her best friend and said she hoped the family could now work towards some sort of closure. She said: “I am just grateful she [Sloane] did plead guilty ... saved us the experience of having to sit through a trial,'' “Hopefully, now we can bring this tragic situation to an end.''

Monique Hoffman-Tamm, Michelle Hoffman-Tamm’s daughter, said she had previously been told most of the details and: “It was gut-wrenching,'' She said she felt nothing but anger towards Sloane, whom she had known and called “aunty” her whole life. She said she was relieved Sloane had pleaded guilty but that it: “still doesn't make it seem any more real''

Monique Hoffman-Tamm embraced a family member of Sloane’s outside court and told friends it wasn’t their fault.

During the investigation period, Jan Dolan said it was completely out of character for her sister to go missing and not make contact with family, and she said Michelle Hoffman-Tamm was in a “very good head space' when she was last seen.

Detective Senior Sergeant Zane Smith of the Rotorua CIB said the police had formal identification processes and it would be wrong to speculate before they were complete. He said: “We have formal identification processes to now go through and it would be wrong of me to speculate before those processes are complete.''

He also said police had been continually updating Michelle’s family on progress and had advised them they had located a body: “but they too understand that we cannot jump to conclusions,'' and: “Police are particularly interested in the movements of a two-tone light-coloured Subaru Legacy stationwagon between the 7th and the 12th travelling around Rotorua or between Rotorua, Whakatane and Murupara.''

Sloane was arrested with interim name suppression at the stage when she was charged with assault. She did not enter a plea when she appeared before a Community Magistrate and was remanded in custody to reappear in court on December 3.