R v Kingi

[2017] NZHC 2938

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND WHANGAREI REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA WHANGĀREI TERENGA PARĀOA ROHE

CRI-2016-088-386 [2017] NZHC 2938

BETWEEN

THE QUEEN

Informant

AND

KORONERIA KINGI Defendant

Hearing:	29 November 2017
Appearances:	MB Smith for Crown BL Sellars for Defendant
Judgment:	29 November 2017

ORAL JUDGMENT OF TOOGOOD J [Disposition under s 24(2) Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003]

R v Kingi [2017] NZHC 2938 [29 November 2017]

Introduction

[1]      Mr Koroneria Kingi is charged with the murder of his brother-in-law, David Taniora, at Whangarei on 10 February 2016. It is alleged that, in what the Crown says was an unprovoked attack, Mr Kingi killed Mr Taniora by stabbing him in the neck with a knife.  Other injuries were inflicted by the knife and other weapons.

[2]      The issue of Mr Kingi’s fitness to stand trial was raised and the appropriate procedure under the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003 (“the Act”) was engaged.  On 25 October 2016, under s 9 of the Act, Whata J recorded a finding, on a balance of probabilities, that Mr Kingi had caused the act that formed the basis of the offence of murder with which he is charged.1

[3]      In an oral judgment dated 2 November 2017, delivered after I had heard evidence from two health assessors - Dr Himadri Seth and Dr Ian Goodwin - and submissions from counsel for the parties and from Mr DPH Jones QC as counsel to assist the Court, I determined that Mr Kingi is unfit to stand trial.2  I set out the reasons for that decision in a judgment dated 10 November 2017.3

[4]      On the basis of the evidence given by Dr Seth and Dr Goodwin, I found:

(a)      there is credible evidence upon which an insanity defence might be founded on Mr Kingi’s behalf; but

(b)Mr Kingi’s denial of his mental illness and impairment, and reported views of the events leading to Mr Taniora’s death, are genuine and psychotic in nature in that they are out of touch with reality and clearly at odds with the available facts; and

(c)      that  as  a  result,  Mr  Kingi  is  incapable  by  reason  of  his  mental impairment from communicating adequately with counsel so as to be

able to conduct a defence or instruct counsel to do so.

1      R v Kingi [2016] NZHC 2546.

2      R v Kingi [2017] NZHC 2940.

3      R v Kingi [2017] NZHC 2675.

[5]      I found it to be proved to a high degree of probability that Mr Kingi suffers from treatment resistant paranoid schizophrenia; that he was probably insane at the time he committed the acts leading to the charge; and he was unfit to stand trial.

[6]      I ordered under s 23(1) of the Act that inquiries be made to determine the most suitable method of dealing with Mr Kingi under s 24 or s 25 of the Act.

Further health assessor’s report

[7]      On  17 November 2017,  Dr Seth  reported  on  his  further  examination  of

Mr Kingi’s mental state.  Dr Seth said that, importantly, Mr Kingi continued to lack any insight into his illness and the role that it had played in Mr Taniora’s death.  He reported Mr Kingi as saying:

I don’t have any mental health issues, I don’t have paranoid schizophrenia. It is only because of the money and the land that I am here.

[8]      Dr Seth said Mr Kingi continued to believe that his whanau had conspired against him to steal his land.  Dr Seth said that Mr Kingi continued to endorse other delusional beliefs such as that he had a number of ideas that he believed people might steal from him, giving an example of when he was in prison in Australia. Dr Seth said that from those descriptions it would appear that Mr Kingi has been unwell since at least the year 2000. Dr Seth said Mr Kingi continued to believe that he could work on a cure for DNA poisoning and possibly cancer, and that he also had ideas regarding certain helicopter parts and software for computers that would be of interest to security agencies such as the Pentagon.

[9]      Mr Kingi told Dr Seth he did not agree with being detained as a special patient and believed that he should return to prison.

[10]     Dr Seth recommended that Mr Kingi be detained as a special patient under s 24(2)(a) of the Act as that detention would best manage his treatment for treatment resistant paranoid schizophrenia and would allow him to be safely managed to ensure there is no recurrence of the offending.  Dr Seth’s opinion was that any other form of disposition would not allow his condition to be safely managed. The psychiatrist said that, under the status of a special patient, Mr Kingi’s fitness to stand trial would

continue to be assessed in the future. Should he become fit, the information would be conveyed to the Ministry of Health and liaison would then occur with the Ministry of Justice so the issue of insanity could be further explored at some point in the future.

Murder conviction in Australia in 1997

[11]     I found Dr Seth’s reference to Mr Kingi having been unwell since at least the year 2000 to be instructive. Sadly, it underlines how great a tragedy has been suffered by the Kingi and Taniora whanau as a result of the events leading to Mr Taniora’s death.

[12]     In Australia in July 1997, Mr Kingi was recently separated from his wife, Donna, whom he had married in April 1996.  Mr Kingi was an occasional visitor to his wife who had custody of their daughter. During a visit, they had an argument over custody, leading Mr Kingi to depart and return to his own home where he got hold of a crowbar and a knife.  He returned and confronted his wife in an upstairs bedroom, striking her on the head with the crowbar and then stabbing her repeatedly in the chest with a knife. The attack caused her immediate death. Mr Kingi said his wife had told him she would sleep with all of his friends and mistreat their daughter.

[13]     After pleading guilty to murder, Mr Kingi was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to serve a minimum term of 11 years.  He was released from prison aged about 41 in 2008, and returned to New Zealand.

[14]     It  appears  that  no  question  was  raised  at  the  time  of  Mr Kingi’s  arrest, conviction and sentence in 1997 about his mental state, the guilty plea apparently pre- empting any inquiry into those matters by the Australian authorities. It seems also that no questions about Mr Kingi’s mental health were raised while he was in prison between 1997 and 2008. As I have noted, however, and as appears from earlier reports to the Court, Dr Seth considers it likely that Mr Kingi was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time he was imprisoned in Australia and it is a reasonable proposition that he was mentally impaired at the time of his wife’s tragic death.

Submissions

[15]     For the Crown, Mr Smith submits that the circumstances of Mr Taniora’s death and Mr Kingi’s previous criminal history show that protection of the public is an important concern and that there is a substantial risk to community safety if Mr Kingi was to be released into the community for treatment.  Mr Smith submits that it is in the public interest that the Court should make an order for detention as a special patient.

[16]     Ms Sellars is constrained by her instructions. I am grateful to her for her efforts in maintaining Mr Kingi’s confidence and providing him with legal advice throughout a considerable period. Responsibly, counsel does not argue with the legal propositions leading to the Crown’s submission that Mr Kingi should be detained, but she faithfully reports to the Court his view that he does not suffer from mental illness and is not unfit to stand trial.  Accordingly, Mr Kingi remains opposed to the proposed disposition under the Act and wishes to be returned to custody or released into the community.

Discussion and conclusions

[17]     As Dr Goodwin explained at an earlier hearing, while Mr Kingi may improve such that he eventually becomes fit to stand trial, it is not possible to give a definitive timeframe within which that may occur.  Only periodic reviews over the course of treatment, such as the statutorily mandated reviews at intervals of no longer than six months under s 77 of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act

1992, can provide the means to know when that assessment is changed.

[18]     I am more than satisfied that Mr Kingi’s psychiatric illness is deep-seated and longstanding.   It led to the tragic death of Mr Taniora and may well have been instrumental in the tragic death of Donna Kingi in 1997.

[19]     Bearing in mind the circumstances of Mr Taniora’s death, Mr Kingi’s criminal history, and the nature of Mr Kingi’s mental illness, I am in no doubt that the continued detention of Mr Kingi is necessary for the protection of members of the public and other members of Mr Kingi’s whanau.

[20]     This is indeed a tragic case.   I express the deep sympathy of the Court to

Mr Taniora’s whanau and to Mr Kingi’s whanau.  The Court is indebted to the expert medical practitioners who have assisted by the provision of reports over a lengthy period of time.  That it has taken as long as it has to reach this point underlines the importance of ensuring that proper accountability for the violent death of an innocent man is fully considered by the prosecuting authorities and by the Courts.  Our system of criminal justice, however, also requires that those unfortunate persons charged with serious criminal offending while suffering from serious mental illness should be treated humanely and subjected to proper medical care and treatment rather than punishment while they continue to suffer under a mental disability.

Order

[21]     Mr Kingi, would you please stand.  I order under s 24(2)(a) of the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003 that you be detained in a hospital as a special patient under the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992.

[22]     Would you please stand down.

……………………………… Toogood J