Tracey ocoahon (34), of Christchurch, was forced to watch her lover being stabbed 70 times by her jealous ex, was smeared with the murdered man’s blood and then kidnapped with her four young children. With the killer now jailed for life, Tracey reveals to New Zealand Woman’s Weekly how she survived that hellish day, saved her kids and lost her soul mate.
Sitting in the waiting room of the doctor’s surgery, I picked up the magazine and stared at the face on the page. The nurse came through to tell me my pregnancy test was positive – but I could barely take in her words. I was frozen with shock, looking at the photo of my children’s father, Darryn Rosanowski, known as Rozzo, and reading the interview with his former partner.
I knew Rozzo had been to prison before we met but he’d never talk about why. Now I knew it was for kidnapping his ex. Her new boyfriend had escaped through a window but her children had been left alone in the house. It sounded like a nightmare.
Less than two years after reading the article, I would go through the same thing – and it would end in murder. For seven years, Rozzo and I had been in an on-off relationship. He was obsessive and controlling – and I was trapped. Discovering the article was the final straw and I decided to leave him once and for all.
I was pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl, and when they were a month old, I ended the relationship. Breaking away was far from easy. I moved house and changed my telephone number to stop him hounding me. Sometimes he’d plead for us to get back together. At other times he said he hated me.
When I fell in love with Darren ocRoberts (37), or oac as he was known, Rozzo was furious. I’d known oac for years and always liked him. Tall and well-built with a shaved head, he looked tough but was a big softie. We bumped into each other one day and went for a coffee which turned into something more. I had found my soul mate.
on 4 February 2004, oac and I took the kids to the park. Rozzo had been texting me and I turned my phone off to stop him from spoiling the day. When the kids went to bed that night, oac took a shower and I was in the laundry. I didn’t hear Rozzo come in. All I felt was his hand across my mouth as he grabbed me from behind.
“Where is he?” he hissed. I wanted to scream but I didn’t want to wake the children. Rozzo pushed me through to the bedroom. oac looked puzzled when he saw us. Rozzo pushed me away and jumped towards oac.
Seeing a cut-throat razor and knife in Rozzo’s hands, oac scrambled for the window but Rozzo pulled him back, stabbing and slashing him. oac fell and I tried to run from the room but Rozzo grabbed me. He held my hair and forced me to watch as he stabbed oac more than 70 times.
“That’ll teach you for taking my family,” he said. oac managed to say one thing before he died – “You’ll never win.”
Rozzo wiped my partner’s blood all over my face and hair. I wanted to scream for help but I couldn’t risk waking the kids. He dragged me outside by my hair and marched me 2.5km to the factory he worked at, where his car was parked.
“Please let me ring the police so they can get the children,” I begged, hoping they would get to oac in time. But I was kidding myself. How could anyone survive 70 stab wounds? Rozzo made me wash my face and hair in the factory bathroom, drove me to his friend’s house and shut me in the garage while his friend went to get the kids.
Bewildered and scared, my 10-year-old son, six-year-old daughter and the twins, aged one, were locked in with me. I kept calm for the children. Blood was still caked in my hair. But Rozzo seemed happy.
“This is the way it’s meant to be,” he said cheerfully. “I’ve got my family back.” I knew I had to get help and came up with a plan. “Kids, play up,” I whispered. They asked for food and Rozzo agreed to take me to the shop with the eldest two. He kept the twins in the car so I’d come back. At the dairy, with only minutes to act, I bought a phone card and rang a friend from the pay phone.
Everything spilled out in a garbled rush. “Where are you?” she asked. “I don’t know,” I whispered. I spotted a street sign and told her what it said. I hung up, terrified I’d be caught.
Back at the garage, I could hear a helicopter overhead. “Let them be looking for us,” I prayed silently. “You rang someone,” Rozzo said, getting agitated. I denied it. He made us get into a four-wheel-drive truck and put a rubbish bag containing his bloodied clothes in too. I sat in the front with his friend. Rozzo was in the back with the children. I was too afraid of what he might do to signal for help.
“Where are we going?” one of the kids asked. “We’re going to have a bonfire!” he said. Unbeknown to us, 60 police officers, several police cars and the helicopter were following our truck. Rozzo suddenly clicked and shouted, “Drive, drive!” to his friend – but it was too late. The police cars rammed the truck off the road.
The kids were screaming as armed police rushed toward Rozzo. He grabbed at the eldest two kids. “Give me a kiss, kids!” he shouted – but I wouldn’t let them go. As they took him away, he called back to me, “I did it for us!”
Rozzo was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years. The judge said the incident had been “eerily similar” to the one involving Rozzo’s previous partner, the woman who had told her story to the magazine.
I went to oac’s funeral. It was absolutely heartbreaking. I couldn’t believe he had been taken from me. It was very hard to cope. Even now, I check my house – every cupboard and window – before I go to sleep and keep the TV on for company at night.
oy children went into care because it was such a difficult time for us but I’m working to get them back. These days, I try to take things one hour at a time. I hate Rozzo with a passion. oac and I only had six months together – but they were the best months of my life. As told to Sharon Course Photograph by John ocCombe
- Have you ever been a victim of a violent crime? If you want to share your story, e-mail [email protected] or phone (09) 373 9431.
