Anti-muslim ranter unfit to stand trial
A man who threatened a Muslim taxi driver and called him a ‘‘terrorist’’ has been deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.
The driver was praying on the morning of March 17 for victims killed during the attack on two Christchurch mosques days earlier, when George
Te Amo approached his taxi in the car park of the Albert
Sports Bar, Palmerston North.
Saad Hishma, the 56-year-old taxi driver, had noticed in his wing mirror Te Amo sneaking along the side of his vehicle and locked the doors.
Te Amo, 55, asked Hishma through an open window why he was parked there.
He then saw Hishma’s prayer beads and told him to leave the country and called him a terrorist.
Te Amo was removed from the dock during a hearing in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday for making repeated outbursts and interrupting the judge.
He was prevented from returning to the courtroom after becoming ‘‘increasingly agitated’’ in the cells downstairs.
Te Amo has been diagnosed with psychosis and schizophrenia, which causes thoughts and emotions to become so impaired there is a disconnection from reality.
Suppression orders prevent further details of his condition from being published.
He denies wrongdoing and refuses to accept he is mentally unwell, despite spending the past five months in a mental health hospital in Porirua.
In a frenzy of outbursts, Te Amo told the court he had been locked up without committing an offence.
‘‘I’d like to see anyone in New Zealand go through what I have,’’ he said before he was removed. ‘‘I’ve been locked away for not breaking the law for five months now.
‘‘I want everyone to know.’’ Based on the evidence of two mental health doctors, Judge Stephanie Edwards said she was confident Te Amo was unable to remember the events leading to
his arrest.
She also believed Te Amo, who represented himself without the help of a lawyer, would not be able to form an adequate defence.
Edwards was satisfied Te Amo had committed the offences he was charged with, including intimidation and threatening to kill.
How the court will deal with Te Amo or if he’s held responsible
will be decided at a hearing in October.
Hishma, who was a general in the Iraq army for 25 years, told Stuff earlier this year he believed Te Amo wanted a fight. Instead, Hishma reversed on to the street, called police and waited for their arrival. Officers arrested Te Amo, but not before he threatened to slit the throat of Constable Felicity Cato.