Grieving Daughters The Quiet Abuse That Killed Mum

The sisters explain how her every move was controlled

Casey Drummond was in her bedroom the night her mum and stepdad had the argument that changed everything. Even with the door closed, the 14-year-old schoolgirl heard Martin Schofield yell at her mother Katrina Drummond, “I’m going to kill him!”

It was a cool April evening in Taupo nearly three years ago and 46-year-old Katrina had been peeling potatoes in the kitchen when Schofield confronted her, convinced she was seeing another man.

“Martin started yelling and it all escalated from there,” recalls Casey, now 17.

Her mum Katrina and Schofield – who met and married as teenagers – had a relationship based on fear.

But until that night, no one had heard him raise his voice or seen him lift a hand. The domestic abuse in their relationship was quiet yet insidious.

Schofield was a possum trapper and ex-soldier who allegedly controlled every minute detail of his wife’s life, right down to the brand of biscuits she bought at the supermarket. At home, Katrina’s daughters claim he followed her from room to room and if she went out, he sulked and would text or call up to 20 times a day.

“She hated him – you could see it radiating off her,” says Casey, the youngest of Katrina’s three daughters.

“Mum would roll her eyes when Martin walked past and shudder when she heard his scooter pull into the driveway after work,” remembers Casey.

The couple had separated before and Schofield wasn’t going to let it happen again. Katrina told her daughters he’d threatened to shoot her if she left him.

“He used to say to Mum that if he couldn’t have her, no-one could,” tells Casey.

And that chilling prophecy would eventually come true for Katrina.