Winz office killer claims he was not fit to stand trial

CHRISTCHURCH: The man convicted of murdering two women at the Ashburton Work and Income office has argued he was not fit to stand trial.

Russell John Tully was found guilty in 2016 of fatally shooting Peggy Noble and Susan Leigh Cleveland in September 2014.

He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum nonparole period of 27 years but appealed both his conviction and sentence in the Court of Appeal in Christchurch yesterday.

Representing himself, Tully told the court he had a skin condition at the time he was convicted and sentenced, which made him mentally and physically unwell.

‘‘I was presenting at the time with severe infections to the face. I had external infection of the ear, tinnitus, was vomiting; I had diarrhoea. I was only able to get up for lunch, breakfast and tea, otherwise I couldn’t get up for two months.’’

The victims’ families were in court to hear Tully appeal against his conviction and sentencing.

As was Kim Adams — the case manager Tully was found guilty of attempting to murder.

The centrepiece of Tully’s argument is that he should have received better medical testing.

He said that would have proved he was not fit to stand trial.

‘‘Corrections medical had a legal obligation to do medical testing. If someone has an infection or disease, they can do a simple $14 ANA [antinuclear antibody] test and that was only done in the last six months and it tested positive to number of autoimmune diseases.’’

Tully argued that during his trial he was preoccupied as it took him five hours a day to treat his skin condition.

‘‘That’s why I couldn’t show any remorse at the time — I wasn’t functioning correctly.’’

James Rapley QC, who represented Tully for part of the original trial, was called to give evidence yesterday. He said it was his belief Tully had been fit to stand trial.

‘‘I didn’t feel that you were suffering psychosis. I thought you could pay attention and communicate with me.

‘‘I have had clients that have been in that space. They have no idea what’s going on or who I am and have serious mental health problems. But I thought you could engage and knew what was going on, so I felt comfortable about that,’’ Mr Rapley said.

Mr Rapley told the court Tully was preoccupied with his skin condition, which made pretrial meetings difficult.

He said at one of their initial meetings Tully said he had carried out the shooting.

‘‘I told him that if he had done it, a claim of insanity would not be relevant. He then changed his position and said that he might have been the shooter,’’ he said.

The Crown’s representative, Rebecca Thompson, said there had been no miscarriage of justice.

‘‘Mr Tully had a grudge and a plan when he committed this offending six years ago. His actions were deliberate and calculated as he hid his cellphone, disguised himself under a balaclava and shot at staff inside the Winz office.

‘‘His conduct since that date has been aimed at avoiding responsibility for that offending. Our submission is that he never had a viable defence for insanity, there can be no miscarriage accessioned by that defence being removed from the jury and that Mr Tully was fit to stand trial,’’ she said.

Justice Forrie Miller said he would consider Tully’s recent medical tests before making a decision.

The court reserved its decision. — RNZ