Decision not to arrest reasonable, IPCA finds

WELLINGTON: Paul Tainui was determined to harm the woman he went on to murder after being processed for drinkdriving, police say.

In a report out yesterday, the Independent Police Conduct Authority found that officers were justified in their dealings with Tainui when he was stopped in Christchurch in April 2018.

Tainui, who was a convicted murderer out on parole, had been charged with drinkdriving and had his keys confiscated before leaving on foot and going to the home of Nicole Tuxford, where he killed her the following morning.

He had also told officers he had knives in the car.

‘‘At the time, police did not have adequate mechanisms or training in place to identify when a parolee needed to be arrested and urgent consideration given to an application for their recall to prison. Police have since worked with the Department of Corrections to ensure a better system is in place,’’ the IPCA said.

‘‘The authority accepts the officer’s assessment of the situation was reasonable, as was his decisionmaking.

‘‘There were no clear processes in place at the time for him to follow in respect of parolees and nothing in the law to require that life parolees be arrested when suspected of committing an imprisonable offence,’’ said authority chairman Judge Colin Doherty.

Canterbury district commander Superintendent John Price said Tainui was on a determined path to harm Ms Tuxford. His interaction with police was not a deterrent and the officers could not have predicted what he would go on to do.

‘‘Nicole Tuxford’s murder was a tragedy and her family remain in our thoughts as they continue to deal with the unimaginable pain and distress caused by her loss,’’ Supt Price said.

‘‘Our thoughts remain also with the family of Kim Schroder, who was murdered by Tainui in 1994, for the horrendous retraumatising they faced following Nicole’s murder.’’

Supt Price said police accepted the IPCA’s findings that the officer who dealt with Tainui at the drinkdrive checkpoint acted appropriately and in line with police policies, and it was reasonable not to detain or arrest him.

‘‘As the facts of this case have shown, Tainui was on a determined path to causing harm to Nicole when he was stopped.

‘‘The interaction with police had no deterring effect on him, and the officers who dealt with him simply had no realistic way to predict what he would go on to do.

‘‘Those officers have also been deeply affected by Tainui’s despicable actions. However, as this report outlines, they made appropriate decisions based on the information they had.’’

Since the incident, police and Corrections had worked to make improvements to support frontline officers who might come into contact with life parolees.

This included an alert on the police database giving relevant information about a life parolee and directions about how they should be dealt with, including contacting Corrections via an incident line to advise of the arrest and ascertain whether a recall application would be made.

He said while the IPCA had emphasised there was no certainty Ms Tuxford’s death would have been averted if the enhanced system had been in place, police and Corrections had worked hard to improve the process to protect the public and support frontline officers, and would continue to work together to appropriately manage offenders on parole. — RNZ