Man Convicted of Killing Grace Millane Was Allegedly 'Possessive & Overbearing' Toward Women

A new report says that the unnamed New Zealand man convicted last week of killing backpacker Grace Millane was “possessive and overbearing” toward women, and would become angry and abusive when rejected by them.

According to New Zealand news site Stuff.co.nz, the 27-year-old man who strangled Millane, stuffed her body in a suitcase, and buried it in a regional park exhibited a troubling pattern of behavior toward women he met on dating apps. Though jurors only heard from four women who went on dates with the man, it turns out a total of 10 women and one man gave evidence portraying him as “unusually needy, demanding and insecure,” according to High Court Justice Simon Moore, who presided over the case.

Moore said, based on the testimony:

He is possessive and overbearing towards women he barely knows… When the recipients display understandable discomfort, even shock, at what is frankly bizarre, clumsy and narcissistic conduct or otherwise try to distance themselves from him, [the man] reacts in anger and professes betrayal.

One woman testified that shortly after meeting the man on Tinder in 2017, she invited him to her home to meet her friends. He was reportedly rude to them, prompting her to ask him to leave, whereupon he told her, “You’re a dog, you’re a s… I’m going to ruin you.”

When she tried to prevent him from taking his car keys, because she didn’t want him drunk-driving, he allegedly attacked her, per Stuff:

“He forced me back onto the bed and held me down by the wrists. He held me down forcibly, using his strength and his weight on top of me. He was squeezing my wrists.”

The killer eventually gave up trying to get his keys back.

“He started to give me a sob story about his grandmother dying that day. He was crying … Then he told me he got a letter telling him he had cancer and had seven months to live.”

When the woman told him she didn’t believe his story, the man took his trousers down, telling her he had testicular cancer and asking her to check.

She told him to leave but the man got angry and slapped her thigh.

“He was all apologetic saying sorry, but I had made him angry and made him do it.”

Another woman who rejected his advances after telling him she had a boyfriend testified that he attacked her at a party:

“He came right up to my face. He grabbed me and tried to force me into his vehicle. He was saying: ‘You’re coming with me. I have a hotel room booked and we’re gonna have a good time’.”

And a third woman who went on a couple of Tinder dates with him said he force-kissed her after she rejected him.

Jurors didn’t get to hear the testimony from the 11 witnesses, thanks to motions made by the man’s attorneys. Still, the jury decided to convict on Thursday; the man will be sentenced in February.