David Bain's groomsman Paul Wilson murdered two women 24 years apart. Photo / NZME
David Bain's groomsman Paul Wilson murdered two women 24 years apart. Photo / NZME
A convicted murderer who killed again seven years after being released from prison is a “criminal psychopath” whose risk to the public was not properly assessed, a hearing examining how it was able to happen has been told.
Paul Russell Wilson lay in wait for eight hours overnight to murder Nicole Marie Tuxford, 27, inside her own Christchurch home in 2018.
Wilson was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping and killing Tuxford, with a minimum non-parole period of 28 years.
The shocking news that Wilson committed a second murder – 24 years after he killed former girlfriend Kimberly Schroder in Hokitika – was too much for Schroder’s father.
Gary James Schroder, 67, died in a suspected suicide just hours after Wilson made his first court appearance.
A joint inquest is underway in Christchurch before Coroner Marcus Elliot.
The central issues of the inquiry relate to the Department of Corrections’ identification and management of risk of reoffending.
Nicole Tuxford was killed in her Merivale home in 2018. Photo / File
The inquest has heard that Wilson, who had changed his name to Paul Tainui after the Herald published photographs of him as David Bain’s groomsman at his 2014 wedding, had received “significant treatment” while in custody for his first murder, including more than 300 individual sessions with a psychologist.
However, a psychologist who saw him more than 100 times during treatment, was also involved in assessing his risk of reoffending.
Senior Corrections psychologist Dr Nick Wilson said that “dual role” raised questions around objectivity and is a practice no longer used.
“If someone is involved in treating someone for a mental health issue, then they should not be involved in treating someone for their offending,” Wilson told the inquest today.
Wilson said there has been a “huge amount” of research done in recent years which has improved the understanding of people like Wilson who display psychopathic traits.
He also said there had been a lack of objectivity in assessing Wilson’s progress after his release, especially around the honesty and veracity of what he was revealing to Probation officers.
The inquest earlier heard a statement from Wilson where he said he had “pulled the wool over” Corrections and the Parole Board, lying to them into thinking he was good.
Paul Wilson, aka Paul Tainui, in court when he was sentenced for Nicole Tuxford’s murder. Photo / Dean Purcell
Overall, he thought Corrections “worked their backsides off to help me out”.
“I misled them into thinking that I was good, especially at the end of my parole.
“I do not think what happened is anyone’s fault but mine – not Corrections, Probations, or the Parole Board, or [the employment support services entity which found him a job].”
Wilson said he would often “mislead or tell lies” to the Probation staff, especially one who he named who he was seeing a lot before his recall. The Probation officer would suggest or offer that he saw a department psychologist “but I would persuade her that I was fine and didn’t need to”.
Probation staff would ask him about his relationships with women. One time, after he started seeing a woman he told a staffer about it. The staffer wanted proof the woman knew about his past.
The staffer then made Wilson bring the woman in to meet her, and then in front of the staffer told the woman about his history.
“There was no point in trying to keep it a secret from anyone, as after the David Bain thing in the media it was common knowledge.
“Nicole Tuxford knew my history and others at [his workplace] learned it as well.”
Earlier, it emerged that after his release from prison, Wilson was assisted by an employment support services entity that helped him find a job at a workplace in Christchurch in 2016 where Tuxford was also employed.
The directors of the company, which has name suppression, decided to keep Wilson’s criminal history quiet to start with so they could get to know him.
About four months later, one of the directors helped Wilson change his name.
It was not until a colleague saw a news article about Bain it became known that Wilson had a criminal past. The directors then decided they should make employees aware and there was a full staff meeting.
