Every third day, in our #EveryThreeDays campaign, we write about a woman killed by a man.
In May, we remembered eleven women culminating in the murder of Andra Hilitanu. On June 1st, we wrote the horrific story of Sohbia Khan, who a man groomed encouraging her to leave her Bradford home only to be abused, tortured and killed in Derby.
Today we remember Chrissie Azzopardi whose body was found on June 4th 2012 – exactly nine years ago today.
Chrissie lived in Finsbury Park, London, and little is known of her background other than it was reported she had a name originating from Malta.
She was a user of Cannabis which was supplied to her by a neighbour Romy Maynard. It is suggested that Chrissie ran up a drug debt with Maynard, and a series of texts between him and Chrissie on the 28th of April 2012 proved that he intended to visit Chrissie the next day. It is not known at what time Maynard arrived at Chrissie’s flat, but an argument broke out, which subsequently left Chrissie on her bed suffering from fatal stab wounds.
Sadly Chrissie was not missed, no friends, neighbours or family reported her missing, and it was not until June 4th that one neighbour reported a foul smell coming from Chrissie’s flat that led Police to find her decomposing body lying on her bed.
There were no witnesses to Maynard visiting Chrissie’s home, so Police had to rely on forensic evidence, which eventually traped him.
Maynard was charged with murder, and his trial took place at the Old Bailey in October 2013 with The Guadian reporting this:
Mark Heywood QC, prosecuting, said the victim had been stabbed twice in the chest. “The killing was swift and brutal – it is likely she fought back but was very quickly overwhelmed. The killer then left her while she lay on the bed, dead or dying. In all probability, she knew her killer, and she allowed him there. He covered her face with one of the pillows from the bed, either to finish his work or perhaps to avoid her stare in death.”
The prosecutor also stated Azzopardi’s killer had removed from the flat “anything obvious” that would link him to the murder, but left “biological traces” behind.
The forensic evidence included Maynards fingerprint found in the kitchen, partial DNA matches on the pillow and the victim’s cardigan she was wearing at the time of her death. Crucially a full DNA profile matching Maynard was recovered from a small bloodstain on the duvet the victim was lying on. The court also heard that Maynard attended hospital on April 30th with an injured hand – injuries which the prosecutor stated occurred in the struggle with Chrissie.
Following a two-week trial, a jury found Maynard guilty of murder in a unanimous verdict.
Judge Charles Wide QC sentenced Maynard to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years.
“She had everything to look forward to in life” it was said in court, and indeed, that was very true. Chrissie was just 22 years old and a trans woman who was looking forward to scheduled gender assignment surgery.
We remember Chrissie like we do all women – on our website, unlike others, we do not discriminate based on biological sex – every woman is equal.
Chrissie lived as a woman – sadly, she died like many others too.
By the hands of a man.
Chrissie Azzopardi 1990 – 2012
#EveryThreeDays
Authored by Steph @PlaceSteph
LINKS:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24587941
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/18/chrissie-azzopardi-murder-life-sentence
https://tdor.translivesmatter.info/reports/2012/04/30/chrissie-azzopardi_finsbury-park-london-united-kingdom_2a2544fd
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/10/18/london-drug-dealer-jailed-for-stabbing-transgender-woman-to-death/
