'Undesirables' at murdered man's house

A woman who lives near an elderly man killed in a quiet suburban street says youths he knew were always hanging around his house.

"It's been very upsetting," the close neighbour said after the man was killed in Upper Riccarton, Christchurch on Saturday.

A teenager appeared in court today charged with murder.

Detective Inspector Tony Hill said it appeared the man knew the arrested teen and had let the youth into his Owens Tce house before he was killed on Saturday morning.

"He was a bit of a loner and lived on his own and had a lot of undesirables, young lads and girls, hanging around all the time," the dead man's neighbour said.

She said the youths were at the house "all the time", even on weekdays.

They didn't seem to be from Owens Tce, she said, and frequented the elderly man's front yard.

"I don't know what they were doing," she said. "It always did worry me, I must admit.

"It was just unusual for somebody of that age to have all these young people hanging around, we thought. But if you've got no family and you're lonely ... who knows?"

She believed the man had lived in the house since at least the early 1980s and apart from the youths, appeared to have no visitors.

"I never saw any family."

She believed the man who was killed was the street's oldest resident.

"He had about four cars, apparently, and I think he used to let the young guys drive him, probably took him somewhere."

A scene examination at Owens Tce continued today. The neighbour said she did not expect the young people to be back now that the teenager was taken into custody.

"I feel safer now because I've got a feeling now that they won't be hanging around."

Although the man's death upset her, she was not shocked.

"To be honest, I wasn't surprised when I heard it had happened."

However, one of the man's immediate neighbours was stunned to hear of the incident.

"It's a shock. I didn't expect it to [happen to] him, because he's not a bad person."

The neighbour said she didn't have much to do with the victim but he seemed pleasant enough.

She said there'd never been serious trouble in the street.

"It's not a nice thing to happen in your street, and you don't expect it."

Suppression orders imposed at Christchurch Youth Court prevent publication of details including the names of the victim and the arrested teenager.

The youth was expected to next appear in the High Court at Christchurch on August 21.