A forensic investigation is under way following the discovery of the body of a 77-year-old woman inside her Onehunga home shortly after 10am. Video / Hayden Woodward
The man who killed a 77-year-old grandmother in Auckland last year has been found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity.
Matamua Leatioo, 50, will not stand trial for killing Maria Brown, found dead on her birthday at her Ōnehunga home on June 5, because he was in such deep psychosis he was incapable of knowing his actions were wrong, psychiatric experts have concluded.
He appeared before Justice Sally Fitzgerald in the High Court at Auckland this morning.
A small contingent of Brown’s family including a son and grandson, watched from the public gallery. Leatioo, 50, sat in the dock staring at the floor during most of the hearing.
Auckland Crown solicitor Alysha McClintock said two expert reports agreed that at the time of the killing Leatioo was incapable of knowing his actions were morally wrong.
As a result, the Crown’s position was the only reasonable finding was that the act was proven but Leatioo was not criminally responsible on account of insanity.
Justice Fitzgerald said the reports presented a clear and persistent pattern of psychosis, escalating in the months leading up to the act.
Maria Brown, 77, was found dead in her home in June 2022.
Justice Fitzgerald said she was satisfied Leatioo’s actions led to Brown’s death.
The ruling is different from a finding of not guilty.
Under Section 20 of the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act, Leatioo was legally proven to have carried out the killing.
Justice Fitzgerald remanded Leatioo in custody at the Mason Clinic, a secure psychiatric facility, ahead of a disposition hearing on August 30 to determine whether he will remain in custody.
Leatioo remained silent during the hearing.
As he rose to his feet to walk back down into the cells, a man in the public gallery called him a coward.
Brown was found dead at her Moana Ave home in Ōnehunga on June 5 - her birthday - after calls from a family member went unanswered. Court documents state Leatioo lived at the home.
“It was... a day where we should have been celebrating her life,” one of her daughters said on a Givealittle post which has raised over $6500 to transport her body back to Samoa and for services in New Zealand and abroad. “Instead, we find ourselves grieving and devastated [over] the loss of a treasured loved one from our lives.”
The defendant was arrested a month after the grisly discovery and charged with murder and arson, which police believe to have occurred the day before Brown’s body was discovered.
A widow, Brown was described by her family as a treasured grandmother who “helped so many people”, including funding the education of many children. She volunteered with Ōnehunga Primary School culture groups.
“She had so much to give to those around her, even though she didn’t have much,” her family said. “She was a selfless person who would do the utmost for anyone in need.”
Brown was raised in Samoa but had lived in New Zealand for 27 years. She is survived by a twin sister, who lives in American Samoa, as well as five children and many grandchildren.
