R v Haare HC Wellington CRI 2009-085-6053

[2010] NZHC 1703

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND WELLINGTON REGISTRY

CRI-2009-085-6053

THE QUEEN

v

WIREMU POKAI HAARE

Hearing:         30 August - 17 September 2010

Appearances: V Nisbet and G Fairbrother for Accused

K Feltham and I Murray for Crown

Judgment:      31 August 2010

DECISION OF JOSEPH WILLIAMS J

(IN RESPECT OF THE ACCUSED’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE OFFENCE)

In accordance with r 11.5, I direct the Registrar to endorse this judgment with the delivery time of 4.45pm on the 31st August 2010.

Solicitors:
Crown Solicitor, PO Box 10-357, Wellington

V Nisbet, Solicitor, PO Box 10-909, Wellington

R V HAARE HC WN CRI-2009-085-6053  31 August 2010

[1]      Wiremu Pokai Haare is charged with murdering Kelly Noema on the morning of 11 August 2009 by stabbing him with two large kitchen knives.  Both the accused and the victim were residents of a boarding house in Newtown for people who need general supervision, usually for mental health reasons.  Mr Nisbet now asks that the court consider whether Mr Haare is fit to stand trial.

[2]      The Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003 provides for a three stage assessment.

[3]      I must first be satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that there is sufficient evidence that Mr Haare caused the death of Mr Noema.[1]    Although the issue has arisen after committal by the standard committal process but before trial, I am able to take into account evidence admitted at the committal stage[2].  If I am satisfied as to the sufficiency of evidence I must then consider whether the accused is mentally impaired.[3]     For that purpose, I am required to obtain the evidence of two health assessors under s 38 of the Act.  If I am satisfied at this second stage that the accused is mentally impaired, I must then decide whether he is unfit to stand trial.[4]

[1] Section 9.

[2] See s 12(1)(a) and R v McKay [2009] NZCA 378 at [97].

[3] Section 14.

[4] Section 14(2).

[4]      This decision relates only to stage one.   I indicated after this morning’s hearing that I was satisfied that Mr Haare caused the death of Mr Noema.  I now give my reasons for that.

[5]      The evidence that Mr Haare killed Mr Noema is circumstantial.   No-one actually saw him do it.  But I am well satisfied, based on what I have seen and read, that Mr Haare did in fact kill Mr Noema on the balance of probabilities.

[6]      The  relevant  evidence  may  be  divided  into  two  categories:    first,  the interview of Mr Haare by Detective Sergeant Todd and his assistant, Constable Abbott at the Wellington Central Police Station between 10.29am and 1.15pm on

11 August 2009; and second, the committal stage statements of witnesses who were

at Mansfield Street House and saw or heard events as they unfolded before and/or after the stabbing.

[7]      In the police interview, Mr Haare indicates that Mr Noema had been sniffing glue that morning at the boarding house, had made a lot of noise and had woken him up at 5am.  Mr Haare found this intensely annoying.  He says that he told Mr Noema “That is enough”.   When asked what he did about his annoyance that morning he said and then constantly repeated that he solved the problem.  A crucial passage in the interview is as follows:

Haare:      Welcome to the real world. People that do that sort of thing don’t get away with it.

Todd:       Okay.   And what do you mean by they don’t get away with it, how were you planning to deal with it?

Haare:      I have my own ways, everybody has their ways to deal with problems.

Todd:       I…I accept that and what was your, in your mind what were you going to do to deal with this particular problem?

Haare:     Solve the problem.

Todd:      Ah-ha.  And how were you going to solve the problem? Haare: The Mäori way.

Todd:      Okay, explain that further.

Haare:      There’s no good way of doing it the English way, you talk to him is like talking to one ear then it comes out the other ear, so I do it the Mäori way.

Todd:      Okay well explain to me your version of what the Mäori way is. Haare: Bang it into them, so that they will stop.

Todd:      You’ve said ‘bang it into them until they stop’ … Haare:        Yes.

Todd:      …what do you mean by that?

Haare:     Any way you like.  They’ll soon stop it sooner or later.

Todd:       Okay and so you say ‘anyway you like’ so what way were you going to bang it into him.

Haare:     The best way I knew.

Todd:      And what was that, Wiremu, please? Haare:     Solve the problem.

Todd:       Ah-ha.    And  what  was…  how  were  you  going  to  solve  the problem?

Haare:     I’ve already solved it.

Todd:       Ah-ha, and what do you mean by ‘you’ve already solved it’, how have you solved it?

Haare:      Got rid of the nuisance.  The annoying glue bag nuisance.  You want to annoy people like that every day, every morning, watch out.

Todd:      And how have you got rid of the problem? Haare:               Dissolved the problem.

Todd:      What actions…what have you done to solve the problem.

Haare:      I have  no…  way  of  explaining  my  actions,  they  are  not  my actions.

Todd:      What do you mean by that, Wiremu? Haare:     This ain’t me.

Todd:      Okay.

Haare:      You can leave…asked…enough.   If they do not listen the first time then…stop it.

[8]      Two further extracts set out the cryptic way in which Mr Haare describes what he did as a result of Mr Noema annoying him:

Haare:     He was upstairs.

Todd:      Where exactly upstairs?

Haare:      Somewhere upstairs, I don’t exactly know where but upstairs, but I went upstairs to look for him, I found out where he was, he was upstairs.

Todd:      And so you went upstairs to look for him and you found him?

What happened next?

Haare:     Dissolved the problem.

…

Todd:      Was he standing, was he still banging on doors, was he yelling?

What was he doing?

Haare:     He got a fright to see me.

Todd:      Oh did he?  And why?  Why was he frightened?

Haare:     ‘Cos it’s not very often that I go upstairs, there’s only a reason

I’ll have to go upstairs then I will.

Todd:      Okay so he’s got a fright, and then what’s happened? Haare:     I dissolved the problem.

Todd:      Ah-ha.  And what did you do to dissolve or solve the problem? Haare:   Dissolved it.

[9]      Mr Haare made no direct admission that he had stabbed Mr Noema, but the inference is there to be drawn.

[10]     The formal written statements of Wiremu Kepa the resident caregiver, his girlfriend  Gabrielle  Leathers  and  two  residents  named  Terrance  Christman  and Roy Mataki were admitted at committal stage.  That evidence indicates with clarity that Mr Noema had in fact been sniffing spray paint or glue that night and in the morning and had made a ruckus in the residence in the early hours of 11 August to the annoyance of others including Mr Haare.  A chair had been thrown through the glass panels of a door.  The suggestion is Mr Haare did this, but it is not clear to me whether  this  was  so.    Shortly  after  that  incident,  according  to  Mr Christman, Mr Haare said to him and Mr Mataki that when the kitchen opened at 6am that morning he was going to grab a knife and stab Mr Noema.  Mr Mataki confirms this. Mr Christman was intimidated by this comment because, he said:

... Wiremu never mucked around he was always serious with every word, that’s just the way he was, everyone took him serious, or I certainly did.

[11]     Ms Leathers recalls hearing glass panels in doors at the residence smash and then Mr Haare saying either “once the kitchen is open, you’re going to die”, or “once the kitchen is open, I’m going to kill you”.

[12]     Mr Christman indicates that after the kitchen opened that morning he heard noises and swearing and he came out to see what had gone on.  He saw Mr Haare

walking away from the kitchen with a knife in each hand and then saw Mr Noema lying in the corridor outside his room.  He had been stabbed but at that stage was still alive.

[13]     Mr Kepa recalls hearing loud screaming at the relevant time, as if someone was in terrible pain.  He jumped out of bed and rushed down toward Mr Noema’s room.  On the way he found Mr Haare.  He was walking into the kitchen directly towards Mr Kepa.  Mr Haare was carrying two knives each with a blade about 10-15 centimetres long, one in each hand, blades facing outwards.  He was in an obviously agitated  state  and  there  was  blood  on  the  tips  of  the  knives.    Mr  Kepa  asked Mr Haare to put the knives down, but Mr Haare kept walking toward Mr Kepa looking angry and breathing heavily.  Mr Haare then walked to the sink and began cleaning the knives.

[14]     Mr  Kepa  then  rushed  to  aid  Mr  Noema  but  was  unable  to  save  him. Mr Mataki says that after the stabbing, Mr Haare said to him “I did it, not once but

10 times”.

[15]     These comments by the four witnesses are put to Mr Haare towards the end of the police interview.  Apart from the occasional flat denial, he offers no comment or explanation in response.

[16]     The evidence is thus that in the early hours of the morning of 11 August 2009

Mr Noema’s drug induced behaviour had stirred Mr Haare into a rage, Mr Haare had promised other residents who had also been woken, that he would stab Mr Noema. He waited until the kitchen was unlocked for breakfast about an hour later, had grabbed two sharp knives from the knife block in the kitchen, gone to Mr Noema’s room, drawn him out into the hallway and stabbed him there.  He then returned to the kitchen to clean the knives.

[17]     As I have said, I am satisfied therefore, on the balance of probabilities, that

Wiremu Pokai Haare caused the death of Kelly Noema.

Joseph Williams J