The orginal monster part 2

 

Paul David Bailey

Today is part 2 of the part 1 from the original monster.

These parts are :The day Kylie was murdered, what happened according to Baileys own testimony, and the aftermath…

THE DAY KYLIE WAS MURDERED

Friday the 1st of November started like any other day in the busy Smith household. A dedicated teacher Dawn had left before Kylie woke up. The teenager got up and dressed and headed to the open plan lounge and kitchen her father had built in their two storey house tussling with him over the newspaper so she could read it over breakfast. After school she walked home fetched a bite to eat and was out the door at 4.30pm to ride her horse Nick, heading south out of town in the drizzle towards a local farm to practice. Had the weather been worse Kylie would have just ridden around the town.

The last known sighting of her occurred not long after she and Nick headed south along Waikawa road just 200m past town and in plain sight of passing traffic, when a farmer saw her talking to someone in a dark car parked at the side of the road.

Police would later learn that what the farmer saw was most likely Kylie’s last moments before she was forced from her horse at gun point ordered to lie down in the back seat of the car and abducted.

Minutes later the local mailman saw her startled horse cantering up the main street and grabbed him. He found Kylie’s best friend Angie Wood and another riding companion who were running late and trying go catch up to Kylie, and gave Nick to them while he went out to find Kylie.

At 5.45pm Kylie’s friends went to her house and found her dad in the basement workshop. Immediately he knew something was wrong and he drove to the farm where Kylie was meant to be practicing but she wasn’t there. Around the same time he heard an ambulance thinking she had fallen off he went to the medical centre but she wasn’t there either.

By 6pm on the 1st November there was a general unease as the news of Kylies disappearance spread, more than 200 hundred locals dropped what they were doing to hunt for a girl who symbolized everything their small patch of paradise represented.

Farmers, freezing workers, and ministers joined emergency services and the Smith family to spend a wet night hunting for the teenager in bush and paddocks and streams.

For Kylies mum the wait for news was cruel with a steady stream of visitors, the house was full but she felt empty. From the moment her husband ran to the school staff room to tell her Kylie was missing to searching side by side in paddocks at the farm Kylie was meant to be at she knew something was terribly wrong.

Initially hoping Kylie had fallen off and broken her leg to calling the police after an hour, it became clear that something was seriously wrong. At 7pm Dawn and Bevan were ordered by the police to remain in their home as police from Balclutha and Dunedin arrived to help with the search.

Drained by everything happening Dawn lay down on the couch, feeling something on her forehead she went to touch it but nothing was there. She thought ‘ I think Kylies trying to tell me something ‘ she later said ‘That’s when she realized Kylie wasn’t coming back’.

The following day she found out at the time of the sensation she felt her daughter had been shot dead.

As night turned into morning they realized there was no hope of finding Kylie alive. Dawns biggest fear was they wouldn’t find Kylies body that isn’t something she could live with ever. “ We need to find her and bring her home” were Dawn’s thoughts.

BAILEY’S 1ST NOVEMBER

On the day Bailey raped and murdered Kylie he had spent the morning in Balcutha.

He collected a food parcel from the salvation army and bought wine from the liquor store despite it being against his bail conditions.

At a garage he paid for a map of Owaka one showing all the gravel back roads.

Errands complete Bailey returned home for lunch before arguing with his partner about a visit with the pastor.

At 2pm he took a :22calibre rifle from a drawer, telling Rose he planned to shoot rabbits. Bailey had sawn off the barrel and the stock of the Glenfield semi-automatic he had stolen from a friend in Ettrick, effectively turning it into a pistol.

He had loaded the magazine the night before with 9 shots, fired 4 into a tin can a had left 5 in the gun. He told Rose we was heading to Owaka to check if the weather was settled enough to continue the drainage job. He dropped into the pastors house before driving south to the Pounawea camping ground, circling it slowly before returning to Owaka by an indirect route.

Police realized later Bailey had been scoping out the terrain.

Back in Owaka, he slowly drive past another girl on Waikawa road at 4.15pm, 15 mins before Kylie went missing. That 17yr old girl was a relative of Kylies and looked eerily similar to Kylie with a tall athletic frame and long blonde hair. The girl later reported Bailey stared at her while he drove past, leaving her feeling so unsettled she told her dad.

Bailey cruised the town streets and was seen looking nervously and fidgety while reading a map at the corner of Waikawa Road and Stuart St, with Kylie riding 150m ahead of him.

What happened next…..

BAILEYS OWN TESTIMONY…

Bailey said he had gone out with his gun and ‘ just got carried away with the fantasy – it just got out of control’ he said.

Bailey said his intentions were always to rape and kill Kylie, and that he chose her cos she was different she was taller than all the other girls and stood out.

He said he stopped next to Kylie just outside Owaka showed her the gun and ordered her off her horse and to lie across the cars rear seat, saying she was ‘submissive’ as he drove north ( she was more than likely terrified)

After narrowly missing another car and forcing it into a ditch he made his way towards Nugget Point lighthouse about 20km away and east of Owaka, near where Bailey was living.

Several kilometers before the lighthouse he collided head-on with another car driven by two American tourists, damaging the cars bonnet before speeding off.

The tourists didn’t see Kylie as Bailey had her crouching on the floor of the passengers seat.

The tourists report about the accident would later prove vital in capturing Bailey later.

Bailey said he then drove to a scenic lookout ordered Kylie out of the car at gunpoint and walked her down to the beach, around the point and up into some scrubby bush. It was there that he raped her before ordering her to get dressed. Two divers on the beach left him anxious that they might have been seen, and he sped away back to Kororo creek road, in a panic stopping at a lay by beside a dense hill covered in scrub in the pretext of raping Kylie again. Ordering Kylie from the car again he marched her across a stream in her socks and up steep terrain to a small flat patch on the wet hillside. He forced Kylie to undress before raping her again. He allowed her to put her underwear and trackpants back on, but before she could dress any further he shot her in the back of the head. Arranging her in the recovery position he shot her twice more. Then he placed kylies helmet beside her, her riding coat over her before concealing her body with dead branches and ferns.

Returning to his car he stopped on his way home, hid the gun in roadside lupines near Kaka point township.

At 7.15pm Rose welcomed him home relieved he seemed happy after their argument that afternoon and the pair settled in to watch TV.

At 1.45pm Police banged on their door waking Rose and Bailey up to question Bailey about his movements hours earlier, Police noticed that Bailey seemed nervous and thought he was acting suspicious. Afterwards they went back to bed and Rose and Bailey talked about Kylie being “missing” They prayed for the family and Rose said she hoped Kylie wasn’t dead to which Bailey replied “ Don’t think about it too much” – “Try to sleep”

THE AFTERMATH

The Saturday afternoon when Kylies body was found marked the point at which the lives of the Baptist pastor and his family changed forever.

That morning the Police visited the pastor and told him they believe Bailey had abducted and killed Kylie. Officers had searched Baileys house, noted his efforts to fix his car and taken him to Balclutha police station for questioning. Now they wanted the pastor to talk to Bailey to find out where Kylies body was.

Shocked the pastor couldn’t comprehend what they were saying “ I didn’t think he had the ability to kill someone” he said.

The pastor agreed to help police and talked to Bailey alone in his cell for several hours repeatedly asking him him if he killed Kylie. Eventually after telling Bailey they had found Kylies body – Bailey hung his head and confessed to the pastor “ yes, I did, I killed Kylie”.

The horrified pastor did not want to continue but knew the police needed him to persuade Bailey to formally plead guilty.

That day and the next 6 meetings the pastor had with Bailey over the 2 months were the most harrowing he had ever experienced. “ I know I shouldn’t say this but I was angry and bitter with him”. In the initial hours before Kylies body was found he recalls how calm and collected Bailey appeared to be.

‘ I have since realized Bailey thought he was going to get away with the murder and when they found Kylie, and I told him that is when he started to fall apart a bit and that is when he confessed’ the pastor said.

When the pastor asked Bailey why he didn’t kill his wife he said Bailey looked at him with horror and said “ I would never kill your wife” it was then the pastor understood Baileys warped sense of standards he wouldn’t kill people he knew just people he didn’t know.

After working with the police over many months Bailey eventually confessed to the pastor where he had hidden the rifle.

Getting Bailey to admit murder was extremely difficult since his lawyer kept telling him to deny it. Eventually the pastor won and persuaded Bailey go admit his crimes.

On the 7th February 1992 Bailey finally plead guilty to raping and murdering Kylie Smith . He was jailed for life with a minimum non parole period of 10yrs for murder and 13yrs for the rape.

THE SHATTERED RURAL COMMUNTIY

In the days after Kylies murder with Bailey locked in a cell and no answers forthcoming the community needed someone at whom to direct their anger at.

Dawn Smith numb from the loss of her daughter remembers little of the events of the following days but admits she and her husband were in part responsible for what subsequently happened . ( they lost a child in the most horrific way and were grieving)

For Bevan Smith the idea that a church had tried to help his daughters killer was too much. He and the community aimed their anger at the pastor and his family and the pharmacist who employed Bailey, the bitterness escalating to abuse and threats.

“MURDER” was sprayed on the pastors home and he vividly remembers picking his youngest child up from preschool only to find him in the corner of the classroom because the carers had shunned him.

The local garage refused to serve the family. Locals boycotted the pharmacy and the Pastor learnt of a plan to fire bomb his house and Baileys house. A local mob also threatened to burn the church down.

With help from the police the pastor arranged for Rose and her kids to go somewhere safe before fleeing with his own family.

“We really feared for our lives” the pastor said.

Vigilantes did burn down Baileys house, but the pastors house was spared, but the steady stream of rumors and untruth broke the terrified family, forcing them to flee.

Shunned by an unforgiving community, they moved to Alexandra- where in further persecution he was forced to defend allegations from the local police one of whom was a close relative of Kylies mum.

Fighting those charges took 15 months cost the pastor all of his savings and even his job when the Baptist church dumped him after saying it couldn’t endure negative headlines.

The Alexandra Baptist church should also hold some responsibility as the decons of the church knew what Paul Bailey was accused of in Alexandra and yet never passed this information on to the Owaka pastor or the police, instead they kept that information a secret and only after Kylies death was this information revealed.

Moving on again the ex pastor and his family put the pain of Baileys legacy behind them. He became a salesman and a successful businessman, alongside his wife. But the hurt of the past 20yrs inhibits him and the darkness of what a community became is never far from his mind.

14yrs ago him and his wife lost their 18yr old son in an accident. The grieving couple had to endure spiteful comments from people with connections to Owaka - who told them they deserved to lose their son because he was responsible for Kylies death.

Today he is no longer a man of the cloth and no longer goes to church. Yet despite all the sorrow he has managed to keep his faith. ‘I have got this amazing wife who has been incredible and probably helped I suppose the saying “the truth will set you free” has kept me strong. The truth is Paul Bailey was a murderer, and the truth was I helped to put him in prison. I have to keep that in the forefront of my mind’. The pastor says he feels immense sadness for the Smith family but believes the police let everyone down( especially those involved in the sexual assault case that Bailey had name suppression on).

The police were quite happy for myself and my family to take the brunt. If the case in Ettrick about Bailey had been handled properly by the police and they had done their job right then Kylie would still be alive today. The pastor understands why Kylie’s dad reacted the way he did, but wishes he had been given the opportunity to sit down with the family and explain how Bailey had wormed his way into his life and manipulated situations around him.

“Because I never got the opportunity and was not allowedvto go to Kylie’s funeral, it would have been good to sit down and pass on condolences to Dawn”.

DECADES LATER….

For Barry Hanson the sole occupant and constable stationed at Owaka in 1991 the events of November 1st are never far from his mind. ( Back then most rural townships were covered by one cop so they could even cover or being responsible for about 2-3 small rural districts)

On a day off, when Kylie went missing he asked himself time and time again what he could have done to help save her.

Hansen was never alerted by the Alex police or district Court that Bailey was in the area – something he believes should have happened. Had he had known of Baileys attempted rape charge he would have insisted Bailey report every day to the police station and would have watched him closely. ( because of Alex police failing to pass on information about Bailey they are also at fault for what happened to Kylie)

In the months after the tragedy, Hansen said he found himself walking down Owaka’s quiet streets at 3.30am wondering what he could have done to change the outcome. “It will never go away for me”.

Like Hansen former detective John Scott who led the investigation, believes Bailey should never have been released from prison on the attempted rape charge. Despite now suffering from dementia, he clearly remembers the effects Kylies murder had on Owaka. “In a small town like that everyone knows everyone and it knocks people around”.

A 1992 victim impact statement put together by the police on behalf of the community supported Scott’s sentiments, stating Baileys actions shattered any illusion people previously held of it being a safe place to bring up children. Scott had a more succinct way of explaining the impact of Baileys killing one of Owaka's own. ‘It crucified them’

Dawn Smith likens the impact of her daughters murder to a stone being thrown into a pool, the ripple gets bigger and bigger.

Her husbands life ended that day, she feels. He could never accept that he wasn’t there for Kylie in her final hours and it tormented him. He would go over and over the fear and terror she would have experienced and the unending anguish leaving a once active community stalwart a husk of a man, filled with anger and bitterness. Bevan died at 60 from a brain hemorrhage in 2011, but Dawn believes it was from a broken heart.

Dawn still lives in the house in Owaka she and Bevan lovingly built but is alone, instead of enjoying family weekends with her husband and Kylies children. She has 3 grandchildren from her son Rhiane, but she struggles to fill the hole.

In 2005 Bailey was charged with the sexual offending against the 12yr old girl in 1989-1990.

At Baileys latest parole hearing he admitted he still had sexually inappropriate thoughts about women, Dawn who gave evidence to the board was delighted at the decision and said Bailey should never be freed.

Although a caring and resilient women Dawn has a residing anger for the man who destroyed so many lives. “ if he walked in the room I would pick up a knife and I would kill him, I just loathe the man intensely. If he gets out we are all in trouble.”

On the 27th February 2023 Paul Bailey now 58 appeared before the Parole board.

He had previously appeared before the board on the 14th April 2021 he had completed the Kau Marama child sex offender treatment program in 2015 but did not graduate, he also had additional 1 to 1 psychology treatments for a limited number of sessions in 2019. The last board was concerned that there had not been sufficient focus on the violence involved in Baileys offending.

Before reaching any verdict the board talks to the victims – who strongly opposed to Bailey’s release. They described him as manipulative, and dangerous. He had shown no remorse and his offending had a huge impact on their lives and the lives of their friends and family. They don’t ever wish for him to be released or to ever live in the South Island. They have seen no commitment from him to change. Finally they do not have any confidence that he will comply with any conditions imposed if released. He committed rape and murder of Kylie while on bail for attempted rape. The victims have also asked for a longer than 2yr consideration for parole to extend it to 5yrs for the next hearing.

The board declined Baileys parole he is to be seen again in January 2025 ( soon) they will not only be seeing him for parole but to make the postponement order of parole hearings being every 5yrs.

Bailey will be entitled to make representation to the board hearing in January either by himself or a lawyer in relation to the question of extending parole hearings every 5yrs.

While in prison Bailey has been charged with a positive drug test on the 29th June 2022, and on the 5th January 2023 Bailey was found with a vape and a sharpened object. He was found with tobacco on the 6th January 2023.

He had work release that has now been suspended as a result.

Baileys rule breaking behavior is a concern. The board still have concerns about the 3 original lots of offending, Kylies rape and murder, the attempted rape and the sexual offending against a child 12-16yrs of age. Those concerns were enhanced due to a victim who was also an eye witness. Bailey continues to display unstable behavior and has no release proposal. You can not be released from jail on parole unless you have a release proposal, that includes somewhere you are going to stay, a job, self-help centres or communities and someone who is going to take responsibility for you ( can’t imagine anyone is willing to take those chances with Bailey) so he will more than likely never be released from jail – which is something every person especially every woman should look as a sign of gratitude.

Paul Bail is currently seeking to be deported back to the UK if he is to be paroled.

After Kylies murder in 1991 our lives as rural kids changed forever we were country kids living in a small rural community we often rode our horses on the side of the roads to get to places or to your friends houses, that all changed we had to go in pairs, had to be in paddocks no stopping to talk to anyone we didn’t know, even if they were looking for directions, we had to tell people where we were going and ring once we got there even if it was the neighbour up the road, I didn’t trust new people in our communities or in our church I avoided them all. Kylies murder was the moment in my life that everything I once believed in changed forever. People often ask what point in your life did everything change for you Kylie’s murder is what changed everything for me. It’s why I don’t believe churches should help criminals and why criminals shouldn’t ever be bought into a small rural community because of what happened to Kylie.