{"id":376621,"date":"2026-04-13T00:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T00:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/376621\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T00:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T00:51:11","slug":"wellington-woman-irene-katsougiannis-died-from-blow-with-heavy-ornament-coroner-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/376621\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellington woman Irene Katsougiannis died from blow with heavy ornament – coroner"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pathologist found a bloody ornamental dolphin at the scene was the probable weapon, adding \u201cthe fins of the dolphin may explain the puncture wounds and other injuries\u201d.<\/p>\n

Son killed mother, spent thousands at Hong Kong bars<\/p>\n

Irene Katsougiannis\u2019 body was found on October 16, 2023<\/a>, by a concerned friend, who hadn\u2019t heard from her for two days.<\/p>\n

The report said Irene Katsougiannis had been teaching music until 4.30pm on October 13.<\/p>\n

Her son had been at a casino in Auckland and arrived in Wellington that evening, buying alcohol, then catching a bus to her house.<\/p>\n

A ranchslider at the property was smashed, and glass was scattered inside and outside.<\/p>\n

The next afternoon, he transferred more than $12,000 to his bank account from one she had control over and booked a flight to Hong Kong, leaving the next day.<\/p>\n

He arrived, and spent $8000 at a nightclub and bars. By 9pm NZT, Hong Kong authorities reported he had died. He had Irene Katsougiannis\u2019 phone.<\/p>\n

About 30 minutes before Soterios\u2019 death, \u201ca message was received on that phone from a contact of Ms Katsougiannis, checking on her wellbeing and referring to a homicide investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n

On that phone, the internet search history included \u201ctourist visa Hong Kong\u201d.<\/p>\n

The report said he had no suspicious wounds on his body, and local police did not identify any \u201csuspicious or criminal elements\u201d.<\/p>\n

Irene Katsougiannis \u2018fearful\u2019 of son<\/p>\n

Soterios Katsougiannis lived a transient lifestyle<\/a> and his mental health declined after the sudden death of his father in 2017, the report said. Handwritten notes found in his mother\u2019s bedroom revealed the nature of their relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey disclose that Ms Katsougiannis experienced Soterios engaging in violent behaviours, including throwing and breaking items in her home, throwing eggs and spitting at her.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs Katsougiannis recorded incidents where Soterios swore at a \u2018demon\u2019, appeared to believe he was communicating with God and believed he was responding to his mother\u2019s \u2018telepathic thoughts\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soterios Katsougiannis would regularly request money from his mother and she would agree, despite it causing her financial strain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears Ms Katsougiannis felt intimidated by his behaviours,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

Coroner Schirnack said her death was a tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u2018A dear friend\u2019<\/p>\n

Soon after Irene Katsougiannis\u2019 death, family friend Katy told RNZ she was a valued friend, netball coach and member of the Greek community.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer loss will be felt far and wide,\u201d she said. \u201cI am in shock, and my heart and sincere condolences go out to her family and all who love her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greek community group Odysseus Brotherhood paid tribute to her on Facebook, saying it was saddened by the tragic news of the passing of \u201cour dear friend\u201d.<\/p>\n

Irene Katsougiannis was a piano tutor at Queen Margaret College, and principal Jayne-Ann Young also described her as a \u201cvery dear colleague and friend\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pathologist found a bloody ornamental dolphin at the scene was the probable weapon, adding \u201cthe fins of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[26862,12629,6179,71,42,6559,196342,196343,43,61811,40,38,41,39,52,102,1354],"class_list":{"0":"post-376621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-blow","9":"tag-coroner","10":"tag-died","11":"tag-from","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-heavy","14":"tag-irene","15":"tag-katsougiannis","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-ornament","18":"tag-top-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topnews","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-wellington","23":"tag-with","24":"tag-woman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}