Swearing as judge finds man insane
A man had to be restrained when a court erupted with anger after a murder accused was found not guilty due to insanity.
Dozens of people were in the public gallery for the appearance of David Charles Gilchrist, charged with murdering Glen Collins in Upper Hutt last September. As Gilchrist was brought into court he was sworn at and someone thumped the barrier between the public gallery and the body of the court.
Their anger and distress only grew when Gilchrist was led away after an order that he be held as a special patient; one man had to be restrained.
The crowd did clap though when the order suppressing Gilchrist’s name ended.
Gilchrist, 36, was made a special patient by order of Justice Peter Churchman in the High Court at Wellington yesterday. Collins, 45, had two children.
He was stabbed during the afternoon of September 20, 2018, in Upper Hutt.
His mother, Karilyn, with his brother, Tiri, at her side, told the court Glen Collins was a beautiful person who took Gilchrist in when he was homeless and living in his car. She said his death had left her with anxiety attacks, fearful of leaving her house and made her life very difficult.
The court heard Gilchrist had a long history of mental illness, due to schizophrenia, which was sometimes exacerbated by illicit drug use.
He left Whangarei where he had been living. He was without medication and it was suggested he left to get away from the mental health team there.
It was also said he had been located but let go without assessment or treatment.
The judge said the evidence was that Collins tried to help Gilchrist, was friendly and supportive, even teaching him to drive the trucks of the rubbish company they both worked for.
But Gilchrist thought Collins was persecuting him and he and the world would be better off without him.
Gilchrist drove to where he knew Collins would be and without warning stabbed him in the back, breaking off some of the blade of the knife he used.
He continued to use the broken knife to keep stabbing him.
A woman who heard Collins’ screams said Gilchrist seemed bizarrely calm.
Gilchrist had been jailed in Britain for robbery, to support his crack cocaine addiction.
During the Wellington hearing there was a passing reference to Gilchrist also hitting a roommate with a brick.
Members of Collins’ family said after the hearing that they wanted to thank two neighbours who came to his aid – a woman who investigated his screams, interrupted the attack, called police and stayed with him, and a man who tried to resuscitate him.
The special patient order is potentially indefinite and subject to high-level decision making about granting the patient leave from hospital or if there was an application to lift the special patient status.