Funds for Blessie Gotingco's family fight against Government reaches $100,000

Monday, 23 May 2016

A family's grief - Antonio Gotingco comforted by his tearful son at the memorial service holding the ashes of his wife, Blessie Gotingco in June last year.

Donations to help the family of murder victim Blessie Gotingco mount a legal case against the Government have passed $100,000 since the fundraising page opened three days ago.

The family say they want to bring a civil suit against the Department of Corrections to hold them responsible for the 'mismanagement and non-monitoring of evil' over the killer who took her life.

Blessie Gotingco, 56, was raped and murdered by Tony Robertson as she was returning from work to her Auckland home on May 24, 2014.

As of Monday morning, $117,490 had been pledged by 3458 people to help the family achieve their mission.

On Friday, the Gotingco family launched a Givealittle page named Justice for Blessie, to raise the funds needed to battle Corrections for her 'wrongful death', calling the civil suit mission 'the biggest challenge of our life'.

A handcuffed Tony Roberston arrives with a heavy prison guard foe his Appeal in the Blessie Gotingco murder case

* Blessie murder: Family 'devastated and disappointed' by government inquiry's findings

* Blessie Gotingco's killer could have been locked up for good**

Antonio Gotingco, Blessie's husband, said he would follow murderer Tony Robertson 'to the gates of hell', during an interview on Newshub's 'The Nation'.

In an open letter to New Zealanders, the Gotingcos called for support as they raised money to undertake their own review of the case. If the review showed they had legal grounds, they would file a civil case against Corrections.

Gotingco, 56, was raped and murdered by Robertson as she was returning from work to her Birkdale, Auckland, home on May 24 2014.

Her body was dumped in the Birkenhead Cemetery.

Robertson was released from prison five months earlier after serving a jail term for abducting and indecently assaulting a child and was subject to an extended supervision order which included 24-hour GPS tracking.

Antonio Gotingco said Corrections never properly monitored Robertson and that it was only a matter of time before he would commit another crime.

'And yet they continue to add insult to our injury by claiming that they have exceeded standards in their management of this hardened criminal. For us, hearing these pronouncements is like rubbing salt to our raw wounds'.

He said while it was the family's hope that no other family would experience the tragedy they went through, there was no guarantee 'unless we get our acts together'.