Carmen Carmen Rupe has paid tribute to a longtime friend who was found dead on a Hamilton street. The body of 74-year-old Lower Hutt man Donald Alfred Stewart was found with head injuries near a public toilet block on Sunday morning. Carmen had been friends with Stewart since they went to school together in the King Country in the 1940s. The trans legend has told the New Zealand Herald that although Stewart was religious and conservative, he was a good friend. "We'd talk about a lot of things. I'd often get calls at Christmas time or cards from him, too. He was a real gentleman." The last sighting of Stewart alive was at a Gull petrol station on Norton Rd at 8.50pm on Saturday. His body was discovered by a street sweeper. Police are seeking public help as they investigate his death.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 1st July 2010 - 5:37pm