‘Devil, dead man told him to attack others’
The man accused of murdering Samuel Culling says the devil and Culling gave him instructions when he viciously attacked prison guards and inmates with crude weapons.
But the jury who found Hemi Te Poono not guilty of Culling’s murder in November were not aware of that fact, with a judge deciding it could not safely be put before them.
Te Poono was sentenced in the High Court at Wellington yesterday to eight years and six months’ jail for attacking six people while in custody awaiting trial for Culling’s murder, as well as other minor offending.
A High Court decision from 2016, which can be reported only now because Te Poono has been sentenced, gives more detail about why he committed the seemingly inexplicable attacks.
In his decision declining a Crown application to have all of Te Poono’s charges dealt with at one trial, Justice David Collins said forensic psychiatrist Dr Justin Barry-Walsh found Te Poono was suffering from methamphetamine-induced psychosis.
‘‘Dr Barry-Walsh’s report records that [Te Poono’s] attacks on Corrections officers and prisoners occurring during the onset of hallucinations, which [Te Poono] attributed to the devil and Mr Culling giving him instructions,’’ the judge said.
The voices ‘‘commanded’’ him to attack, plaguing him until he was treated with anti-psychotic medication, the judge said.
However, there was no evidence Te Poono suffered the same issues on the night of Culling’s death.
Culling, also known as Samuel Badawi, was fatally shot in the head in August 2015. His body was found in Palmerston North and his blood was found throughout Te Poono’s car. Te Poono said he saw Culling get shot, but had no idea who did it.
The judge said the prison attacks appeared inexplicable until BarryWalsh’s assessment. The Crown never raised an obvious motive for Te Poono killing Culling, but there was one for the prison attacks.
‘‘Asking a jury to conclude [Te Poono] is the murderer because he also engaged in unprovoked and violent attacks in prison invites the jury to speculate about [Te Poono’s] motives, if he is the person who murdered Mr Culling.’’