Chit Ko Ko in the dock of the High Court at Hamilton where he admitted the manslaughter of Hamilton grandfather Guy Thompson. Photo / Belinda Feek
Chit Ko Ko in the dock of the High Court at Hamilton where he admitted the manslaughter of Hamilton grandfather Guy Thompson. Photo / Belinda Feek
A man had undiagnosed schizophrenia complicated by the effects of an HIV infection on the morning that he went on to stab a man to death on his kitchen floor.
Chit Ko Ko had been acting aggressively on the morning of September 17, 2022 and throwing bottles of urine at his neighbour Guy Sing Quaver Hihiterangi Thompson’s whanau members, outside their Nawton home.
After being told what happened, Thompson confronted Ko and the pair had a fight which resulted in the Hamilton grandfather being left for dead with four stab wounds on Ko’s kitchen floor.
Ko’s erratic behaviour continued after being arrested, as he also threw urine at prison officers before he was eventually diagnosed and brought under control with anti-psychotic medication.
Court documents state that after assessment and treatment, Ko was diagnosed with schizophrenia complicated by the “neuropsychiatric effects of HIV infection”.
Ko was initially charged with Thompson’s murder and was due to go to trial on Monday, July 29.
However, he reappeared in the High Court at Hamilton this afternoon where, with help from a Burmese interpreter, he pleaded guilty to Thompson’s manslaughter.
The 49-year-old was convicted by Justice Timothy Brewer and remanded in custody for sentencing in November.
Ko and Thompson lived in Roy St, Hamilton, with their properties separated by a fence. Thompson’s house was at the end of a long driveway.
On the morning he died, Thompson’s 19-year-old granddaughter and other siblings were reversing out of the driveway.
However, she noticed Ko standing at the front of his property waving his arm and holding a plastic bottle with the lid off.
As she continued to drive, he threw the bottle at the car.
Her driver’s window was open and the contents splashed on to her hand. She and the other occupants of the car identified the fluid as urine “due to the strong odour”.
She initially drove away from the property but then decided to return home to inform Thompson, and parked up on the grass verge in front of Ko’s property but outside the pool fencing.
Ko was still standing outside and threw another bottle, hitting the vehicle and making a “loud bang”.
Chit Ko Ko in the dock of the High Court at Hamilton this afternoon where he admitted the manslaughter of Guy Tompson in Hamilton on September 17, 2022. Photo / Belinda Feek
She then reversed her vehicle back on to the road and drove away before ringing Thompson and explaining what happened.
Thompson, who was home, then got into his vehicle and reversed down the driveway and stopped adjacent to Ko’s house.
He walked through a gap in the pool fencing and approached Ko who was still outside, yelling.
When examined later that day by a doctor, Ko was found to have a loosened front tooth which he claimed was as a result of being punched in the mouth by Thompson.
He also denied the knife was his and asserted it was brought to his house by Thompson.
Court documents state that while he was in custody, his erratic behaviour continued with the throwing of urine at prison officers and requiring management in the intensive support unit.
When assessed by a forensic psychiatrist in December 2022, he presented with delusions and erratic behaviour which only improved with subsequent hospital care and treatment with anti-psychotic medications.
The court documents said that given the natural history of schizophrenia and escalating erratic behaviour, it was clear Ko’s psychotic illness, involving persecutory thoughts and delusions, was active at the time of offending.
