Wire Manuel Reddington in the High Court at Wellington, where he denied a charge of murdering Jamie Gill on the night of June 25, 2023 at Carterton. Photo / Catherine Hutton
Warning: This story contains graphic details
Jamie Gill’s cold and shirtless body was found face-down in a paddock in June 2023.
The 32-year-old had been badly beaten to the point of unconsciousness before his death. Pieces of his ears had been ripped off and he had been cut, strangled, dragged through the mud and left to suffocate in the grass at the Wairarapa property.
Opening its case in the High Court at Wellington today, the Crown alleges that was all at the hands of Wire Manuel Reddington, with whom he had been drinking the night he died.
However, Reddington denies the murder and says he wasn’t responsible for Gill’s death at a rural property near Carterton. His lawyer Ian Hard told the jury the Crown’s case was circumstantial and police focused unduly on his client when they should have spent more time looking at Reddington’s older brother Tipene, who they had also been drinking with.
Hard told the jury he had good reasons for saying that and they would hear evidence tantamount to a confession from Tipene that he had killed Gill, adding Tipene had made these comments in front of three people.
But he also suggested that if after hearing all the evidence the jury thought his client guilty, which he wasn’t, they should consider the defence of insanity.
Hard said the Crown would have the jury believe the killing occurred during a drug and alcohol psychosis, but the defence would show Reddington was suffering from schizophrenia, which had been diagnosed at a much younger age. In the year before Gill’s death Reddington was unmedicated, he said.
In her opening address, Crown prosecutor Tamara Jenkin told the jury Gill was found on June 25, 2023. His top was missing and his body was cold. There were cuts and bruises all over his body. Bits of his ears were missing.
She said Gill died from strangulation and suffocation. A post-mortem examination found mud in his throat and there was evidence of injuries to his neck. He’d been beaten and cut with a sharp object.
Reddington lived at the property with his older brother and mother. Gill had arrived at the property shortly before the fatal night.
The Crown says on the night of Gill’s death, the occupants were drinking at a sleepout on the property. Tipene left to put his mother, who’d had a bit to drink, to bed.
Upon his return, he found Gill and his younger brother fighting. He broke up the fight and told the pair to clean up the mess. Reddington was making accusatory comments, but Gill didn’t know why Reddington was upset with him, she said.
The older brother went back to the house to check on his mother. When he returned, the sleepout was empty. He yelled out, but there was no response. He returned to the house.
Jenkin told the jury Reddington returned to the sleepout early in the morning, clad only in his boxer shorts. He was covered in mud and wouldn’t tell Tipene where Gill was.
The next morning, the landlady found Gill’s body in the paddock and called emergency services.
The same day, Reddington was arrested and charged with assaulting Gill. The following day he was interviewed by police and denied murdering Gill.
Ten days later he was arrested for Gill’s murder.
Jenkin said although Reddington denies the murder, much of what happened can be reconstructed by what was found at the scene.
She said that showed Reddington and Gill had fought on the right-hand side of the driveway. In the mud there were finger marks, sock prints and items of clothing. There was blood on the fence, some of which belonged to Gill.
During the fight on the driveway Reddington bit or tore off Gill’s ears. Three pieces of flesh were found on the driveway that had Reddington’s DNA on them, she said.
There were bite marks on Gill’s head and Reddington has previously bitten off pieces of his brother’s ears in the course of fights.
She said Tipene’s movements on the night of the death from the electronic bracelet he was wearing showed he didn’t go near where Gill’s body was found.
The Crown’s case is that Reddington suddenly erupted and attacked Gill, strangling him until he died.
She said Reddington had a tendency to be violent, often in a spontaneous manner in the way he was on the night of Gill’s death.
Reddington’s lawyer told the jury the Crown’s case was circumstantial.
He told the jury the defence’s case was that Reddington wasn’t responsible for Gill’s death.
“He fought with Gill, they struggled, but he wasn’t responsible for taking his life,” he said.
He said the police were too quick to focus on his client and should have spent more time considering Tipene’s role.
Finally, there was his client’s mental health. The jury will hear from three psychiatrists during this trial, including one for the defence.
The defence’s case is that Reddington received a diagnosis of schizophrenia in his 20s.
His client had a tragic life, losing both parents to imprisonment when he was 8 years old. He was then sent to live with relatives, where he had an abusive childhood and was treated like a slave. He was bullied at school, including by his older brother.
He reported hearing voices at around 16 years of age, but didn’t commit an offence until he was 21 years old, which Hard said could have coincided with the onset of schizophrenia.
Hard said when Reddington was imprisoned in 2016, a psychiatrist thought he was probably suffering from schizophrenia. Reddington was prescribed anti-psychotic medication and improved markedly. But Hard said he took his medication sporadically and was unmedicated in the year leading up to Gill’s death.
The jury trial before Justice Jason McHerron is expected to take three weeks.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media advisor at the Ministry of Justice.
New Zealander with colourful history finds himself in third continent's courts.