The Monster of Mangatiti

In 1985 a teenaged Heather answered an ad for a live-in tutor. She thought she was embarking on an adventure. It was back country New Zealand. Nothing but beautiful bush and birdsong. Wild animals were the only habitants in the Mangatiti Valley, near the central North Island town of Raetihi, and one William Paul Cornelius.

Cornelius and his son lived in a shack a 30 mile trek from nearby town, Raetihi, south west of the Tongariro National Park. The drive to the ramshackle hut was pockmarked by locked gates, dense bush and precarious gorges. The ‘driveway’ was a private track, set an hour away from the main road. So remote was the location it was literally impossible to walk away from. And when the abuse started she literally had nowhere to go.

This a true story.

Made with the support of new Zealand on Air.