Wire Reddington found guilty of murdering friend Jamie Gill on the Carterton estate

“There are no winners. They lost their son for a while, but we lost Jamie forever.

She said Gill has his weaknesses, but is a good-hearted person who would be willing to take his shirt off.

“There is no closure, this ends a chapter and we are glad that this process is over and we can move on,” she said.

Reddington was charged with murder after Gill’s cold and lifeless body was discovered face down, partially covered with extensive injuries, on a rural property in Carterton in June 2023. The 32-year-old was strangled to death in the mud and grass and had pieces of his ears missing.

Gill had spent the previous night with two men – Reddington and his older brother Tipene – and their mother, who had gone to bed as the combined effects of alcohol and strong drugs took effect.

What happened on the night of June 24, after the trio consumed a potent cocktail of methamphetamine, cannabis and alcohol while sleeping and in the driveway of the property, was the subject of more than three weeks of intense scrutiny by the Supreme Court in Wellington.

The Crown said Reddington – who had been on a two-day robbery – attacked Gill in a drug and alcohol-fueled rage. Reddington attacked Gill in the driveway, biting off pieces of his ears, then strangled him and dragged his friend’s body down the driveway, through the gate and out into the paddock, where he knocked him onto his stomach and left him in a ditch.

In her closing argument earlier this week, Crown prosecutor Stephanie Bishop told the court this was a case of a man who – fueled by drugs, alcohol and rage – gave in to the worst of his impulses.

“Mr. Reddington knew what he was doing was wrong and he did it anyway,” she said.

However, Reddington’s defense stated that it was not their client who attacked, but his older brother Tipene.

The court heard that a month after Gill’s death, Tipene was in a car with several people, including his mother and sister, when he launched an unprovoked attack on the pair, choking his sister so severely that her lips turned black and hitting both women in the face with a wheel brace. He put a knife to his sister’s throat and threatened to kill her.

Defense lawyer Ian Hard told the jury on the night of the murder that Reddington and Gill had argued in Tipene’s room during a sleepover. Bottles were broken, the table was overturned, chairs were moved and paper was strewn across the floor. The defense stated that the destruction of his room caused Tipene’s aggression.

“He took matters into his own hands and then did something much worse. That’s something you can’t take lightly in someone who has a short temper when he drinks,” Hard said.

Hard also told the jury they couldn’t discount the possibility that Gill ran away as a result of the fight and fell in the ditch. Unconscious and unable to move, he inhaled mud and grass and died without anyone holding him. If that was the case, Hard invited the jury to consider a verdict of involuntary manslaughter.

Bishop said there were four reasons why Reddington, not Tipene, was responsible for Gill’s death. The lack of Tipene’s DNA at the scene, the lack of GPS data from Tipene’s electronic bracelet near where Gill’s body was found, his constant denials and the fact that he was not the aggressor that night.

She said drag marks in the driveway also suggested Gill had not entered or run into the paddock alone.

Hard said forensic evidence was limited and could be explained by an earlier fight. He also said there may be gaps in the GPS data and no one has been able to corroborate Tipene’s testimony that he was staying overnight at the main house or talking on the phone at the time of Gill’s death.

Mental illness or methamphetamine murder?

The Crown concluded it was a methamphetamine-fueled murder and Reddington knew his actions were wrong.

But Reddington’s defense stated that if the jury found Reddington was responsible for Gill’s death, they asked them to consider a possible insanity defense, citing Reddington’s mental illness.

Three psychiatrists gave evidence: two for the Crown, one for the defence. They agreed that Reddington was negatively affected by a traumatic childhood, but could not agree on a formal diagnosis.

The Crown stated that despite being under psychiatric care for over a decade, Reddington had not been formally diagnosed with schizophrenia and was a drug-induced psychosis.

The defense stated that there was no diagnosis of drug-induced psychosis and Reddington likely suffered from schizophrenia.

Summing up the case, Judge Jason McHerron told the jury that for an insanity defense, Reddington’s lawyers had to show he was insane at the time of the incident.

Judge McHerron stated that a defendant is presumed to be of sound mind, but if the defendant proves that he was insane at the time of the offense charged, he is not criminally liable by reason of insanity.

He said the jury had to be convinced that when Reddington killed Gill it was more likely than not that he was suffering from schizophrenia, adding that it was not enough to say Reddington had a co-morbid condition with schizophrenia, he must have been suffering from it at the time of the killing.

If they were satisfied that Reddington was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the murder, the jury also had to be satisfied that at the time he did not understand the nature of what he was doing, or did not know what he was doing was morally wrong.

Following sentencing, Judge McHerron sentenced Reddington and remanded him in custody until December for sentencing. He also thanked Gill’s family, who sat in the public gallery throughout the trial, for their quiet dignity, saying he was deeply moved by it.

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.