Wire Manuel Reddington has been sentenced in the High Court at Wellington for the murder of his friend Jamie Gill (background). Photo / Catherine Hutton
Warning: This story contains graphic details
The mother of murder victim Jamie Gill has spoken of the guilt she still feels at not being able to rescue her son on the night he was murdered.
Gill was found dead in a muddy paddock at a rural Carterton property with parts of his ears bitten off on the morning of June 25 last year.
Today, in the High Court at Wellington, Wire Reddington was sentenced to life imprisonment for Gill’s murder after earlier being found guilty by a jury.
At the hearing, Gill’s mother Lyn Saunders-Redpath read out the last text she received from her son. It was sent on the evening of the night he died.
“I can’t get out, haven’t been able to leave, my nose is broken, my mouth hurts. You are the only one that can help me, no one else is allowed to and if you take too long, I won’t be the only one who dies.”
Justice Jason McHerron referred to those texts while sentencing Reddington, whose sentence came with a minimum period of imprisonment (MPI) of 14 years.
The last message on the evening of his death said, “no police, serious there’s nowhere to hide”.
Justice McHerron said his mother had no idea where Gill was. He’d told her not to call him. She’d earlier been told by Reddington he was rescuing Gill from a threatening situation.
At October’s jury trial, the Crown’s case was that Reddington, who had been on a two-day bender, lashed out and attacked Gill in a drug and alcohol-fuelled rage.
Gill had spent the previous night with two men – Reddington and Reddington’s older brother Tipene – and their mother, who had gone to bed when the combined effects of alcohol and her strong medication took hold.
Justice McHerron said from the evidence it was clear Reddington threw a plate at Gill before attacking him on the driveway. During a struggle, he kicked and punched Gill’s head and body, yanked his neck, strangled him, bit his body, and bit off parts of his ears.
While Gill was unconscious or semi-conscious, he’d dragged Gill’s body down the drive, through a gate and into the paddock where he flipped him on to his stomach. He’d either held him down or left Gill in a ditch where he suffocated to death.
His body was found the next morning in the paddock by the property’s landlord who came to collect hay from a shed.
At the sentencing, Justice McHerron acknowledged members of Gill’s family who read their victim impact statements in court.
Several said they didn’t accept Reddington’s deprived upbringing could excuse or explain his actions.
A friend, whose name is suppressed, described Gill’s horrific death as the most distressing, heartbreaking, savage and disgusting thing that has ever happened to her.
She said the journey to accept he was gone hadn’t been easy and was made harder by their inability to view the body at the funeral because of his extensive injuries. It robbed them of the chance to say goodbye, she said.
“We were unable to hold his hand, we were unable to give him a hug. Staring at his bolted casket for an hour before his service is not closure.
“I do not feel compassion for you, you not only took Jamie’s life in the most disgusting and cowardly way, but you treated his body worse than an animal,” she said, referring to Reddington.
Saunders-Redpath also spoke of Reddington’s lack of remorse. Members of Reddington’s family had reached out and said they were sorry for what he did.
“That was heartfelt, but those words never came from you, Wire. They are carrying the shame that you should bear. You have shown no remorse whatsoever, no guilt or shame for your actions that night.
“Maybe one day in the future you will suddenly realise the enormity of what you have done.”
Justice McHerron agreed with Crown prosecutor Tamara Jenkin who submitted the murder was brutal, and the victim was vulnerable.
He referred to particular aspects of the attack including biting Gill’s face and back and tearing Gill’s ears off with his teeth. The fatal beating involved stabbing, blunt force trauma and suffocation.
“He would have been defenceless as he suffocated through your actions,” Justice McHerron said.
The judge agreed Gill was vulnerable, not only from injuries he’d sustained from Reddington before the fatal fight, but also because Gill had his own mental health problems and was impaired by drugs and alcohol.
“Your attacks on him were a distinct betrayal of trust he had placed in you and your whānau.”
Justice McHerron said because of these factors he was satisfied an MPI starting point of 17 years was appropriate, which is the non-parole period on a life sentence reserved for murders with serious aggravating factors.
But both the Crown and defence agreed it would be manifestly unjust to impose that MPI as an end point, because of Reddington’s mental health issues and upbringing.
At trial, Reddington unsuccessfully argued that he was insane at the time of the murder.
Today his lawyer Ian Hard told the court that while the jury had rejected that assertion, Reddington was schizophrenic and did suffer from PTSD as a result of a traumatic childhood.
Hard suggested an MPI of 12 years was appropriate as it would allow Reddington to receive the help he needed in jail. The Crown suggested an MPI of between 14 to 16 years.
Justice McHerron said while he accepted that in the days leading up to the killing, Reddington was experiencing paranoia, hallucinations and delusions, these were because of his consumption of illegal drugs and alcohol.
He acknowledged Reddington had PTSD, depression and significant addiction issues but said mental illness was not the reason for his offending.
Justice McHerron said it was clear Reddington had a deprived and neglectful upbringing, experiencing extreme violence, a traumatic brain injury and other abuse. Both his parents were jailed when he was a child.
Reddington himself described how he was “passed around like a paycheck” to whānau who didn’t care for him.
For these reasons, Justice McHerron imposed the MPI of 14 years.
The judge concluded his sentencing by addressing Reddington directly.
“You pose a significant danger to others, without intensive rehabilitation and treatment and support the public needs to be protected from you.
“I hope that you will use your time in prison well, that you will positively engage in any treatment available in respect of your addiction issues.”
After sentencing, the officer in charge of the case, Detective Sergeant Rachael Casbolt, thanked Gill’s family and friends for their strength, composure and dignity over the past 17 months.
She said while the sentencing may feel like closure for some, that wasn’t necessarily the case for his family.
It may ease the stress they’ve been under but it didn’t take away the burden of Gill’s death, or the way he died, she said.
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 adviser at the Ministry of Justice.
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