Gloria Kong kidnap book launch at Oamaru Library cancelled after complaints
7 Apr, 2021 06:39 PM
3 minutes to read
Gloria Kong is taken from the Oamaru Police Station by her father Jimmy Kong after being freed after a massive manhunt. Photo / New Zealand Herald, File
Gloria Kong is taken from the Oamaru Police Station by her father Jimmy Kong after being freed after a massive manhunt. Photo / New Zealand Herald, File
Otago Daily Times
By: Ruby Heyward
A book detailing the impact one of North Otago s most notorious crimes had on one of its participant s family has stirred up controversy in the community almost 40 years on.
KIRK HARGREAVES/Stuff
Verna McFelin’s North Otago launch of her book, The Invisible Sentence, was cancelled after complaints were received.(File photo)
A North Otago launch for a book referencing one of the region s most high-profile crimes has been cancelled after complaints were received. Verna McFelin, founder of the charity Pillars, which advocates for the rights of the children of prisoners, was to launch her book at the Ōamaru Public Library on Friday.
The Invisible Sentence is about her and her four children’s experience after husband Paul McFelin was sent to prison for 11 years after the kidnapping of Gloria Kong, 14, in Oamaru in 1983.