It’s the second time Samuel Pou has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Bridget Simmonds in 2019, after he appealed his first conviction and sentence and a retrial was ordered.
That second trial in Whangārei in July found Pou guilty again and today, in handing down the sentence, Justice Tracey Walker told Pou he showed no mercy to Simmonds.
The High Court at Whangārei was silent as it heard from Simmonds’ late mother, who died of cancer before the end of the retrial, through a video-recorded victim impact statement.
Caroline Callen was the last family member to see Simmonds alive when she dropped her at a Whangārei supermarket on February 23, 2019.
“I was devastated by the loss of my daughter, no parent should ever have to bury their child and to know her death was the result of such terrible violence, is almost too much to bear,” Callen said.
Callen reported Simmonds missing on March 6 that year when the family had not heard from her for two weeks.
Pou was found guilty of the murder in June 2021but after appealing his conviction and life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years, he won a retrial.
Samuel Pou will have to serve at least 17 years in jail before he'll be eligible for parole for the murder of Bridget Simmonds. Photo / Tania Whyte
Callen said the family searched for Simmonds through every campground, cabin and tent around Northland and her heart had been “torn into shreds.
“The best thing I can remember is, she could make me laugh until I cried. I miss her so much.
“When the court is ready to pass sentence, take into consideration the number of years stolen from Bridget and the lifelong grief of losing a child,” Callen said.
Simmonds met Pou in late 2018 and by early the next year the 42-year-old had moved in with Pou.
But the brief relationship was marred by violence and the jury heard the violence inflicted by Pou was reported to police twice in the weeks before her disappearance.
Simmonds had suffered a lacerated ear in one incident, a torn eye retina in another and police described her as having “bruises on bruises, some old, some new”.
After the last beating where her eye was severely damaged, Simmonds retreated to her mother’s in Kerikeri to recover only to return days later to Whangārei on February 23, when her mother dropped her at Countdown in Regent.
As she walked away, her mother recalled Simmonds yelling out to her “Don’t forget my headstone” in what was the last time her family would see her alive.
A taxi driver later dropped Simmonds at Pou’s cabin on a rural property on Wilsons Rd, Titoki, 45 minutes west of Whangārei.
That evening Pou delivered 100 blows to Simmond’s body, fracturing her legs so she couldn’t walk. He buried her 100 metres from his campsite.
Police at the Wilson Rd, Parakao, property where the body of Bridget Simmonds was found in June 2020 - 15 months after she disappeared.
Months later, Pou would tell his drinking buddies: “I wasted her and knocked her off”.
When first brought in for questioning in 2019, Pou said he did not know where Simmonds was or what happened to her but as the police investigation zeroed in on the Titoki property 15 months later, Pou confessed to what he did.
On June 10, 2020, Pou told police: “You’re digging the wrong spot”, and led them to where he buried Simmonds on the shoreline of the Mangakahia River.
The pathologist’s report noted nine fractures to Simmonds’, body including a broken ankle, knee, and major breaks in her right wrist indicating she had tried to defend herself.
Justice Walker said the victims must not be lost in the process of sentencing.
“The glimpse I have of Ms Simmonds is she was a loving and much-loved daughter, described as a free spirit, artist, adventurer and genuine good soul,” Justice Walker said.
Justice Walker said reports on Pou said he had a troubled upbringing, was in and out of State care and had spent at least 30 of his 61 years in prison.
“Your childhood appears to have left you simmering with resentment. The tragedy, you took this out on people unable to protect themselves. She was at your mercy and you showed none.”
Pou was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
