• A 36-year-old man accused of murdering a woman in Avondale has been granted interim name suppression.
• Judge Ajit Swaran Singh set the man’s next court appearance for later this month in the High Court.
• Police are not seeking anyone else in relation to the incident, which occurred on Holly St.

An Auckland man accused of having murdered a woman in Avondale over the weekend will keep his identity secret for now so that the news of his arrest can be broken slowly to his elderly parents in China.

The 36-year-old wore a blue boiler suit as he briefly appeared in Auckland District Court this afternoon.

Defence lawyer Michael Kan did not seek bail or enter pleas on his client’s behalf, but he did ask for interim name suppression until the client’s next court appearance.

Judge Ajit Swaran Singh approved the interim suppression and set his next appearance, in the High Court at Auckland, for later this month.

A Mandarin interpreter accompanied the defendant in the courtroom dock.

No one appeared in the courtroom gallery for the defendant or the woman who died. The first appearance hearing lasted less than five minutes.

Police were called to a home on Avondale’s Holly St just after 1.30am on Saturday, finding the woman deceased inside, Senior Sergeant Scott Armstrong said over the weekend.

Police investigate the scene of an Avondale home where a woman was found dead on Saturday. A 36-year-old Auckland man has been charged with murder. Photo / Hayden Woodward

A man at the address had been helping police with their inquiries, Armstrong said, adding investigators were not seeking anyone.

Residents had been told to expect a high police presence as the scene was investigated through the weekend.

A witness described to the Herald how an emotional scene unfolded about 10.30am on Saturday as family of the woman who died arrived at the scene.

“There were five of them and they walked down the driveway to talk to police,” the witness said.

“Then one of them, a woman, just broke down. She needed to be held up by the others. She was just sobbing.”

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.