Murderer Peter Carrington to stay in prison after over two decades behind bars

RNZ News

27-05-2025

First published on
By
Sharon Davis
, Westport News
Peter Douglas Carrington was 32-years-old when he was sentenced to life in prison.
Photo:
123RF
A man given a life sentence for a brutal rape and murder of an elderly Punakaiki woman in 2022 will spend at least another 18 months in jail.
Peter Douglas Carrington was 32-years-old when he was sentenced to life in prison in the Greymouth High Court on 16 June, 2002, for the murder of a 73-year-old Punakaiki resident, Mya Sollis.
Carrington appeared before the Parole Board via audio-visual link for a hearing on Tuesday.
He was not expecting release but wanted progress made toward his eventual release.
Carrington was born with a genetic condition with an extra x chromosome known as Klinefelter's syndrome. He told the board he had been getting testosterone injections every four weeks for 41 years.
Following blood tests a few years ago, he'd increased the testosterone dose, which had improved his mood and made him more talkative and open to learning.
"I'm open to taking about my issues. I'm totally different. I'm not hostile to women anymore, or people in general. I give them respect. I never respected them back then."
Carrington told the parole panel that "he'd missed out on a hell of a lot" being in jail. When he was released he planned to stay away from drugs and alcohol, which had played a part in his earlier offending.
Parole panel member and forensic psychiatrist Dr Jeremy Skipworth said the main concern of Parole Board members was how Carrington would react under stress.
In response to questions from Dr Skipworth, Carrington said the most stressful thing he'd faced in the last decade was being hassled and picked on, and being abused and assaulted.
"Having to look over my shoulder every day I go out," Carrington said.
Pressed for his reaction to that, Carrington said he felt mainly hate.
"I want to do them in, beat them up. Just to get them off my back."
Carrington said he would talk to a support person or family member if he felt at risk.
He said he did not have any misconduct charges while in jail but had come close once.
Asked about that incident, Carrington said he could not remember.
The board said Carrington had made good progress over the years he had been in prison but needed to do more work. This including wider social integration in a controlled environment to test his safety plan and the risk of further offending before he could be released.
Carrington will appear before the Parole Board again in November 2026.
Mya Sollis' body was found in the grass on McMillans Beach, Punakaiki, on January 16, 2002, by a conservation worker moving an abandoned ATV above the high-tide line.
Sollis had been stabbed 11 times, including in both eyelids, as well as her neck and face. Her trousers were partly down.
Carrington admitted dragging her into flax and attacking her. His pocket-knife was discovered in the Punakaiki River some days after the murder.
An autopsy showed Sollis died from blood loss.
The Punakaiki murder was not Carrington's first. In August 1988 he killed an 81-year-old woman in his hometown of Oamaru. He sexually violated her and hit her on the head with a brick. He was sentenced to seven years jail.
Carrington has been eligible for parole since January 2012. He has been denied parole numerous times because the Parole Board believed there was a risk Carrington would reoffend.
- Westport News