Coroner's ruling leads to homicide inquiry

File Photo / NZ Herald

New details have emerged about how a Christchurch man died - and why his death, originally considered a suicide, is now the subject of a homicide investigation.

Philip James Nisbet, 47, was found dead in his bed by his wife Helen on the morning of May 4, 2009. It appeared the father-of-two had purposefully taken up to 50 pills.

Police investigated the death and referred the case to the coroner.

But coroner Sue Johnson ruled after an inquest that while the pills killed Mr Nisbet there was not sufficient proof he had intentionally taken them.

Police announced they had launched a homicide investigation and a team of detectives is building on evidence they gathered in their initial inquiry into Mr Nisbet's death. No charges have been laid and the investigation is ongoing.

Ms Johnson's ruling, released to the Weekend Herald yesterday, outlined the original police inquiry and why Mr Nisbet's death was not a suicide.

It revealed that three days after Mr Nisbet's funeral, members of his wife's family contacted police.

"Some of Mrs Nisbet's family approached police with concerns that Mr Nisbet had not committed suicide, but had been killed by Mrs Nisbet. They also told police they believed she had tried to kill him in April by crushing tablets and mixing them into his food," Ms Johnson said.

"Police also obtained statements made by work colleagues of Mrs Nisbet that she talked about killing Mr Nisbet with poison or chemicals ... however, they are only evidence that Mrs Nisbet talked about killing Mr Nisbet, not that she did kill him."

Ms Johnson said prolonged police inquiries found no conclusive evidence to back up the concerns of Mrs Nisbet's family.

Mrs Nisbet told police she last saw her husband alive at 9.30pm. Mrs Nisbet, a diabetic, got up at 2am and made herself toast and hot chocolate to adjust her blood sugar levels and then went to sleep on the couch. She told police he was still breathing when she got up.

After police arrived at the house Mrs Nisbet found a text sent from her husband's phone to hers at 10.30pm the night before.

"I'm sorry honey, i can't keep going like this. i love you so nuch (sic). Please take care and tell Ben [their son] I love him," the message said.

Later on, Mrs Nisbet took a typed suicide letter to police. She texted a friend about the letter on May 23 but did not give it to police for another six weeks.

Ms Johnson said there was no evidence to suggest Mr Nisbet was responsible for either "suicide note".

She said there was little evidence of suicide but acknowledged Mr Nisbet had a history of two depressive episodes and had been "out of character" after a health scare.

She said Mrs Nisbet was an unreliable witness.

"There are a lot of inconsistencies in her evidence. It is possible these are explained by the stress she had been under after finding her husband had died ... but it means I cannot put a great deal of weight on it."

Mrs Nisbet, who now goes by the surname Milner and has moved from the home she shared with her husband, could not be contacted yesterday.