Dolphy Kahu had attended a misconduct hearing on the day of his death. Photo / NZME
Dolphy Kahu had attended a misconduct hearing on the day of his death. Photo / NZME
Warning: This article deals with the subject of suicide.
A man accused of trying to murder two police officers took his own life in prison after telling staff he was experiencing his “hardest lag” behind bars.
Dolphy Te Tawhero Kohu made 118 phone calls from jail in the week before he died in 2016. Most were to his girlfriend, whom the 24-year-old also called three times on the day he died.
Kohu told his girlfriend that he was upset with her behaviour and socialising, and that she did not have to “put up” with him any more, according to prison recordings of the calls.
He concluded his last call to her by saying: “I’m not ringing back… I will always love you.”
He was found unresponsive by prison staff less than three hours later and pronounced dead.
Today, more than eight and a half years later, coroner Amelia Steel has released the inquest findings into Kohu’s death.
Kohu was subject of manhunt
In the previous three years before his death on January 22, 2016, Kohu had been in and out of prison, and was the subject of a day-long manhunt around Raetihi and Ohakune in August 2015.
Following that incident, he was remanded in custody on charges which included the alleged attempted murder of two police officers in Whanganui.
He was charged alternatively with two charges of using a firearm against an enforcement officer.
He was also charged with several other offences including unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, two charges of breaching parole, reckless driving, two charges of unlawfully carrying or possessing a firearm, possession of methamphetamine utensils, reckless driving and failure to stop.
Six other people, including Kohu’s girlfriend and members of his whānau, were arrested for associated charges.
After Kohu was pronounced dead in Kaitoke Prison, now known as Whanganui Prison police found that he had written “I’M SOORRY” in large letters in vivid pen on his upper legs.
They also noticed a writing pad in his cell. The top page was blank, but there was an imprint of what he had written on the previous page which read “SORRY MUM, ALWAYS LOVE YOU, SON”.
The coroner’s report said Kohu tended to write in capital letters.
Police during a search for Dolphy Kohu in 2015. Photo / Ruapehu Bulletin
Police were unable to locate the original letter, suggesting it had already been sent.
The coroner’s report said that on the morning of his death, Kohu told his case manager that it was “the hardest lag” he had done and was not coping well with facing a long term of imprisonment.
He said he was in contact with his family but that there were issues with some of his relationships.
He attended a misconduct hearing on the same day before phoning his girlfriend.
The Inspectorate of Corrections told the coroner that there had been no indication Kohu was planning to end his life and that his “risk to self” was managed in accordance with Department of Corrections policy at the time.
He had been subjected to six assessments while on remand, none of which identified him as being at risk of self-harm.
Coroner Steel said she was satisfied that Kohu’s death was intentionally self-inflicted.
“There is no evidence before me that anyone else was involved,” she said.
She said that he was experiencing relationship stress, was separated from his whānau, and facing the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence.
He was also worried that he had involved his whānau in the offences with which he was charged.
“He started to experience anxiety in the months before his death and on the day of his death he had told his case manager that he was not coping as it was the most difficult time he had experienced in prison.
“The note Dolphy wrote to his mother, his final call to his girlfriend, together with the writing on his legs indicate that his actions were taken with an intent to end his life.”
The coroner said there had been no previous indication that Kohu was planning to end his life.
He had no known history of suicide attempts or ideation and had expressly denied this to Corrections staff on several occasions.
“It appears that Dolphy did not reveal the true extent of his distress to his family, girlfriend, counsellor, health staff, or Corrections officers, which prevented them from intervening in his decision,” the coroner said.
She extended condolences to Kohu’s whānau and friends.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
