Forensic psychiatrist: Wire Reddington charged with murder was not schizophrenic at the time of the murder

The Crown alleges Gill died during a fight in which he was cut and beaten, then strangled before being dragged down the driveway of the property. He was then abandoned in a paddock, face down in a ditch, where he was left to suffocate. Pieces of his ears were also torn off.

Barry-Walsh told the High Court in Wellington that he had been ordered by the court to assess Reddington’s fitness to stand trial, as well as whether he was insane. Last October, he interviewed Reddington for about an hour and a half.

Barry-Walsh said during that interview that Reddington showed no signs of psychosis. He was organized and there was no evidence of impaired thinking, which is often seen in psychosis.

He described Reddington as “soft-spoken, sad and reflective. He engaged well and was fluent and organized in his language and speech.”

Reddington described a traumatic childhood and mentioned anger, admitting that he blacked out at times. He had been talking about “popping” since a horse kicked him in the head 10 years earlier.

After this head injury, he began seeing “shit that wasn’t there” and having repressed memories. He began seeing dead family members and monsters and spoke of out-of-body experiences. Barry-Walsh said he used petrol and alcohol to deal with them.

His most common hallucination was seeing his dead cousin asking him to go to his aunt and apologize. He felt the harm and pain of other prisoners. He said medications, as well as methamphetamine and cannabis, helped him deal with the hallucinations.

Barry-Walsh said Reddington reported using cannabis from the age of 10, alcohol from the age of 13 and methamphetamine from the age of 21, and smoking up to a gram a day. He said methamphetamine kept him from being paranoid and he couldn’t function without it.

A forensic psychiatrist said that on the night of the murder, Reddington admitted to drinking excessively and reported that the group drank two dozen RTD drinks, two records containing 18 cans of ready-to-drink alcohol, three bottles of Scrumpy and two bottles of Nitros – a premix of vodka. He admitted that he was under the influence of alcohol that night.

Reddington told him he “remembered bits and pieces” of what happened, but believed Gill ran down the driveway, got into her car and left the property that night.

Barry-Walsh said that before the incident, Reddington had not slept for three weeks because he was taking large amounts of methamphetamine and significant amounts of cannabis.

Asked by Crown prosecutor Stephanie Bishop to explain the difference between someone experiencing transient psychotic symptoms and a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, Barry-Walsh said that while methamphetamine can cause someone to experience delusions, false beliefs and hallucinations, these usually subside when given the person stopped using the drug.

However, with heavy methamphetamine use, symptoms may persist for weeks or months, he added.

The defense claims he suffered from schizophrenia

Reddington’s lawyers say there is not enough evidence to convict him, but asked the jury to consider a possible insanity defense.

Last week, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Shanmukh Lokesh presented evidence for the defense.

Lokesh was of the opinion that Reddington was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the alleged offense and did not know that his alleged actions were morally wrong. He also explained that Reddington’s diagnosis was complicated by methamphetamine use.

Lokesh told the court that in 2016, medical staff diagnosed Reddington with schizophrenia while in prison, and that if left untreated, his psychotic symptoms would worsen significantly. He said Reddington would use drugs and alcohol to relieve his symptoms.

Barry Walsh, however, told the court that 2016 was not a diagnosis but an impression given by a forensic psychiatrist “that he was most likely suffering from schizophrenia.”

He also explained whether a person with schizophrenia would feel unwell until they received treatment.

“When someone is really unwell, it is rare for their health to get better on its own without treatment,” he said.

Barry-Walsh said that in looking at Reddington’s involvement in mental health care since 2012, it was clear that his traumatic childhood had an adverse impact on him.

He explained that Reddington’s most consistent psychotic symptom was hearing voices, but that didn’t mean he suffered from schizophrenia.

“He started hearing these voices at the age of 8, 11, 16, and when I spoke to him he was 22 – so there are doubts about the credibility of his testimony… of substance abuse, including methamphetamine and cannabis.”

“From the beginning of 2019 to the present, this has not been a therapeutic dose of antipsychotic drug. In prison, where a thorough assessment was carried out between 2020 and 2022, although voices were recorded, he was not found to be suffering from a psychotic illness.”

Barry-Walsh said he had been examined by two psychiatrists and had 30 sessions of therapy with a psychologist since his time in prison: “They have consistently maintained their view that this man does not suffer from a long-term psychotic illness, including around the period in which stayed assessed by Dr. Lokesh.”

Now the jury will decide about it. Tomorrow, the Crown and defense will make closing arguments to the jury.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter based in Wellington. She worked as a journalist for 20 years, including: in the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently, she worked as a media advisor at the Ministry of Justice.