A woman has pleaded guilty to four charges of threatening behaviour after several incidents at the offices of Warren and Mahoney in Auckland's Wynyard Quarter.
A top architecture firm was forced to send its staff home for two days after a worker’s threats. A judge has handed down a final verdict, with the woman now looking to enrol in law school.
A woman who threatened her colleagues at one of New Zealand’s top architecture firms – including threatening to “burn the place down” – has been discharged without conviction, based on her mental health.
There was a “real and appreciable” risk that the former Warren and Mahoney staff member could take her own life if she was convicted and if name suppression was not granted, Waitākere District Court judge Rebecca Guthrie said, referring to expert advice, including an updated psychologist’s report.
While police opposed both the discharge without conviction and name suppression, the judge said two expert medical reports had been “essentially unchallenged” by police.
The judge also acknowledged the “significant impact” and “real harm” that employees of Warren and Mahoney had suffered after a series of threats made by the woman in August 2023 forced the firm to send its 150 staff home for two days and employ security on the door of its Auckland headquarters.
The court also heard this week that a security guard was posted outside the home of the company’s HR boss.
The woman, 28, wiped away tears in the dock as she appeared before Judge Guthrie on Wednesday.
“Thank you,” she said as she left the dock after her discharge without conviction.
Before Judge Guthrie began her comments, the woman’s lawyer, George Burns, told the court his client was planning to enrol in law school.
She had previously been accepted into part one and two of a Bachelor of Laws in 2015 and 2017, and intended to apply again. “She intends to enrol this year ... it’s something that she wants to follow through at some point.”
Burns said she felt this would go some way to help mitigate or overcome a “perception” of a gap in her work history.
Guthrie: “It doesn’t change the fact that there will be a gap there.”
Burns: “Yes ... but at least it would show that she’s trying to do something to improve herself and to improve her prospects of employment in the future.”
The woman, who is no longer employed by Warren and Mahoney, earlier pleaded guilty to four charges of threatening behaviour.
The charges, laid under the Summary Offences Act, each carry a maximum sentence of three months in prison.
The case was adjourned until this week while an updated psychological report was prepared.
According to the agreed summary of facts, released to the Herald after an application to the court, the woman made the first threat on August 4, 2023, during an employment meeting with management regarding her attendance at work.
“During the meeting, the defendant made verbal threats towards the victim ... where she said, ‘right now you are coming for that. I will come for anyone who comes for me and my daughter. Anyone. I am psychotically motivated like that’.”
The verbal threats made the victim fear for her own safety “and the safety of the business”.
Just over two weeks later, on August 21, the woman arrived at the Warren and Mahoney offices in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter and spoke to one of the leaders. The summary of facts says she said: “Your whole leadership team will cry”, and “I know where you live”.
The leader feared for his own safety and that of his colleagues.
“As a result of the threats, the company sent its staff of 150 people home for two days to ensure their safety. The offices now have a security guard posted full-time on their locked front door.”
Four days later, the woman was intercepted by security at the entrance. “The defendant asked staff if she could come inside.”
According to the summary of facts, she then told a receptionist: “I am going to burn the place down”.
The victim in that incident also feared for her safety and the safety of the business.
The next day, a woman went to the worker’s house to serve a trespass notice on her. The worker refused to open the door and spoke to the process server through an open window.
“The defendant abused [the process server], yelling at her, ‘Get off my f***en property before I f***en kill you’.”
Judge Guthrie said in court this week that the basis for a discharge without conviction was the woman’s mental health.
Two expert opinions – one from February 2024, another more recent – were “essentially unchallenged by police”.
“Against the backdrop of an extensive mental health history, including the diagnosis of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, I accept on the basis of that expert information that there is a real and appreciable risk that entry of convictions would have a significant psychological impact [on the woman].
“Specifically, a real and appreciable risk that [the woman] would take her life if convictions for this offending were entered.”
The judge found that the consequences of convictions, “which are high and serious, would be out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending, which I find to be moderately low”.
The judge said Burns had provided background on his client’s extensive mental health history, including a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, as well as a more recent diagnosis of the autoimmune disorder Graves’ disease.
The woman had obtained employment at Warren and Mahoney in 2023 but subsequently stopped taking anti-psychotic medication. She started exhibiting “a marked deterioration in her mental health”.
She was in the early stages of a relapse of bipolar disorder.
She had refused to engage with mental health support services at the time, and this coincided with her offending.
On the issue of name suppression, a psychologist said the woman had a genuine belief, whether objectively accurate or not, that she would never be able to work again or leave her house again, “as everyone would know who she is and know the detail of her life”.
“[The woman’s] suicidal intent comes from those genuinely held views,” said Judge Guthrie.
The judge said the psychologist found she was a “very sick woman who has a condition that can lead to changes in the way her mind functions at times when the current medication fails to manage her moods or behaviour, or when the mania or depression gets out of control”.
“[The psychologist’s] expert opinion is that the publication of [the woman’s] name would cause extreme hardship and/or endanger her safety,” said Judge Guthrie.
Police opposed the discharge without conviction.
While they acknowledged the psychologist’s comments, the judge said, police submitted that the woman “has done nothing to mitigate the harm that she has caused, such as engaging in any programmes or providing a remorse letter”.
“Ultimately, the prosecution submits that there’s not a sufficient nexus between conviction and potential consequences ...
“And while the prosecution expresses sympathy for [the woman’s] position, they submit the discharge is not warranted in the particular circumstances.”
Judge Guthrie said the woman did attend a restorative justice meeting with one of the victims. That willingness demonstrated remorse and an acceptance of responsibility.
The judge said the woman had continued to engage with mental health support services and had been receiving treatment since her offending.
“I anticipate this will be a lifelong engagement for her. That she has engaged, that she has support within the community, is something that is somewhat of a protective factor going forward in terms of mitigating risk of future offending.”
Warren and Mahoney is one of Australasia’s most renowned, award-winning architecture firms, with seven offices in New Zealand and Australia.
Its portfolio includes the Supreme Court building in Wellington, the Christchurch Town Hall rebuild, the Wynyard Quarter Innovation Precinct and Commercial Bay in central Auckland.
Editor-at-large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including managing editor, NZ Herald editor and Herald on Sunday editor.
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