KEY POINTS:
A former psychiatric patient accused of bludgeoning his friend with a spade then setting him alight has pleaded not guilty to murder - even though he told police it was a premeditated attack.
Matthew John Ahlquist denied murdering Colin Edward Moyle, 55, when he appeared before the Auckland District Court last Monday.
He also pleaded not guilty to a raft of vandalism charges allegedly committed in the three months between leaving an Auckland psychiatric unit and Moyle's death last May.
The mental health care provided to Ahlquist by the Auckland District Health Board was slammed in an external review and the board has since apologised to his family.
The Herald on Sunday understands Ahlquist, 33, has pleaded not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
New details of Moyle's death can be reported after Ahlquist was committed to stand trial last week.
According to the police summary of facts, the men met by chance in the Auckland suburb of Sandringham shortly before Moyle was killed.
Ahlquist was living rough after leaving an Auckland psychiatric unit in February 2007, where he had been admitted voluntarily but was asked to leave after breaching an alcohol ban.
Moyle offered the homeless man a bed, but the pair soon fell out over rent, so Ahlquist was served a trespass notice and removed by police.
Two days later, Moyle was dead.
Police allege that while father-of-three Moyle was out, Ahlquist crawled through a broken window in the front door of the Kiwitea St home carrying a stolen can of petrol.
Inside, Ahlquist boiled a jug of water, then went to the garden shed to pick up a steel-bladed spade.
With the water boiling, Ahlquist waited until Moyle closed the front door behind him before throwing the scalding liquid into his face.
Police say Moyle fled screaming to the front lawn where Ahlquist struck him across the head with the spade, snapping the handle, then repeatedly hit him with the blade.
The summary of facts says Ahlquist went back inside the house, poured petrol into a bowl, doused the prone Moyle and set him alight with a cigarette lighter.
As Moyle lay engulfed in flames, Ahlquist sat on the front porch and watched, later telling detectives that he planned to kill his friend quickly.
"He said what he had done was premeditated murder but now he regretted his actions," the summary says.
The Herald on Sunday was the first to reveal Ahlquist was released from an Auckland psychiatric unit before allegedly killing Moyle, even though health authorities were warned repeatedly he was a danger to society.
Last month a scathing external report was released slamming the mental health services at the Auckland District Health Board after a series of patient deaths and Moyle's alleged murder.
The health board has apologised to Ahlquist's family but has not been in touch with Moyle's.