WARNING: This story contains graphic content that could be upsetting to some readers
The man who murdered and dismembered Auckland mum Carmen Thomas before burying her remains – interred in concrete-filled plastic containers – in the Waitākere Ranges has appeared before the Parole Board for the first time.
There, Bradford James Joseph Callaghan opened up about the “volcano of emotions” that led to him killing Thomas in her Remuera flat, that he meant no “disrespect” when he cut her body into eight pieces days later and how he “did everything not to get caught” in the weeks that followed.
He also claimed he wished he had been “caught straight away” – and apologised to Thomas’ family.
“I’m so terribly sorry, I can’t do anything more than say I’m sorry,” he said.
Thomas, a mother-of-one and part-time sex worker, was reported missing by Callaghan in mid-2010.
He told police she had failed to pick up their little boy as per their shared custody arrangement and he was worried.
Police launched an investigation but there was no sign of Thomas.
Three months later Callaghan was arrested and the brutal and macabre details of Thomas’ murder and his attempts to avoid being caught came to light.
Callaghan admitted he was told he was not the father of his son, moments before murdering his ex-partner by repeatedly hitting her on the head with a baseball bat.
He then embarked on a mission to hide her remains – which he had dismembered and put in containers that he filled with concrete.
The killer arranged to go out on a friend’s boat to dump the containers at sea but the plan fell apart. Callaghan then settled on the crude grave in the West Auckland bush.
In March 2012 Callaghan was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to serve a minimum of 13 years and eight months before he could be considered for parole.
That time has now passed and Callaghan’s first hearing – before Parole Board chair Sir Ron Young and three other panel members – took place yesterday.
The Herald was granted permission to attend the hearing, where Callaghan appeared in a grey prison-issue tracksuit, clean-shaven with a tidy haircut.
Callaghan’s lawyer Emma Priest told the board he was not seeking parole.
She said while he had a robust safety plan, good support outside prison, approved accommodation and employment lined up – he wanted to remain in prison for another six months to complete further rehabilitation and reintegration programmes.
He had also completed 20 one-on-one sessions with a private psychologist to address his offending.
“He is simply seeking some guidance from the board as to whether he’s on the right track,” she said.
Brad Callaghan during the intense police investigation into Carmen Thomas' death. Photo / Dean Purcell
Callaghan said he was “absolutely devastated” for Thomas’ family.
“For what I did, for my terrible actions,” he said.
“I know that nothing can bring back their daughter… I am so, so sorry from the bottom of my heart for what I have done to them.”
Callaghan then told Board chair Sir Ron Young about the work he’d done with the psychologist.
“We obviously went over my offending in detail, especially the lead-up to my offending and everything after the murder itself when I obviously went on a very extensive… tried to cover up my crime,” Callaghan said.
“We went over a lot… she pulled up a lot of things she thought I needed to work on... it was very intense and extensive and confronting. I felt like it was very effective.”
Police and forensic officers work at the Remuera home where Carmen Thomas was murdered. Photo / Janna Dixon
Sir Ron asked: “Why do you think you killed this young woman?”
“I killed Carmen because I reacted to something she told me, that I should never have reacted to. In a state of rage, I snapped, like a volcano of emotions. I hit her eight times in the head,” Callaghan said.
He added that his relationship with Thomas was “strained” and he had “suppressed a lot of issues” he was having – keeping his troubles to himself.
“I thought I could deal with everything myself – and I couldn’t. I was extremely stressed and emotional. I was very good at portraying that everything was ok… it 100 per cent wasn’t ok,” he claimed.
Sir Ron asked: “Why do you think there was such explosive anger?”
Callaghan said his relationship with Thomas had been rocky from the outset and years of unresolved feelings erupted moments before he killed her, when she allegedly told him their son was not his.
“My son was my world, he was my number one priority and just the thought that he wasn’t mine brought up a lot of suppressed emotions,” Callaghan said.
Sir Ron said: “That was shocking, but in one sense what happened subsequently could be seen by (Thomas’ family) and others as even more shocking. Why did you do that?”
Callaghan said: “I knew what I’d done. I knew that I’d killed Carmen and it was murder. I knew I’d be spending the rest of my life in prison.
“I was terrified, I was panicked – I did everything I could not to get caught.”
Sir Ron rubbished Callaghan’s response, saying the dismemberment and concealing of Thomas’ body took place over “an extended period of time”.
“Those are not the actions of a panicked person. They were actually a carefully planned attempt to avoid responsibility. What you did was not the actions of a panicked person.
“Dismembering her body was an extraordinary thing to do The refusal to accept responsibility, the persistent attempt to involve other people in your deception was extraordinary… this is an extremely rare – the question is, why did you do all of that?”
Brad Callaghan at his first court appearance following his arrest for murder. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Callaghan maintained that he “initially panicked”.
“I wished I had got caught straight away. Everything I did… was a deeper hole.”
He claimed that after murdering Thomas he “had no intention” of cutting up her body. He put the dead woman in her own wheelie bin and hoisted it into the back of his car.
He decided to bury “on the second night” but it was “a failed attempt”.
“I was becoming desperate. I thought of dismembering her. I know this sounds callous but it was never meant to disrespect her… from my point of view, it was merely a means to an end in trying to dispose of a body.
“My intention was to make it easy to transport, to put on a boat… I didn’t have some kind of vicious intent to hurt her even further, even though I did. I was just desperate – I had Carmen in a wheelie bin in the boot of my car and I was so desperate.
“I just… I know how horrendous and horrible it is. At the time I was extremely selfish... I wasn’t thinking about Carmen or her family or the consequences. I was only thinking of myself.”
Parole Board Chairman Sir Ron Young. Photo / Stuart Munro
Sir Ron said it was “hard to think of a more selfish event after a murder” and Callaghan’s explanation sounded like “a refusal to accept responsibility”.
“Yes, I agree. It’s hard to put into words… It was horrendous, there’s no excuses. I can’t justify it at all,” he said.
“I’m generally not an emotional person. When I do become emotional I generally haven’t handled myself well.”
Sir Ron said Callaghan clearly needed a deeper understanding of his offending.
“Until you are really clear about it, it is difficult for us to release you,” he said.
The board decided Callaghan should continue on his path of rehabilitation and reintegration and appear again in 12 months.
On behalf of Callaghan, Priest attempted to have “verbatim” comments he made at the hearing suppressed.
She submitted publishing his comments may upset Thomas’ family and son.
Sir Ron rejected the suggestion, saying the Parole Board was a public institution and as such the public had a right to know what happened at a hearing – unless there were issues of legitimate privacy.
“There is a high level of legitimate public interest... We therefore see no reason why his responses... should be suppressed. The application is refused.
“We do not consider... that there should be any form of blanket order prohibiting the reporting of Mr Callaghan’s rehabilitation and any comments by him about his offending.
“We consider there is a high public interest in these issues.”
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz