Police are maintaining a presence outside a rural Selwyn property after the death of an elderly woman

A 19-year-old man appeared in court charged with her murder yesterday afternoon, just hours after her body was found on Burnham School Road.

He also faces two assault charges relating to two other women.

The man has been granted interim name suppression, and court orders prevent identifying the three women or revealing their relationship to him.

Scene examinations continue at the property - while the man will reappear in the High Court on February 12.