Nelson court finds woman not guilty by reason of insanity in body-tampering case

A woman who tampered with the body of a man who lay dead for weeks has been found not guilty by reason of insanity in the Nelson District Court, on a charge of improperly offering an indignity to a human body. Photo / 123RF

A man lay dead on the deck of his home for up to 14 days before he was discovered by the police, who arrived at the address on an unrelated matter.

The state of his body led them to believe he had been partially exposed to the mid-summer elements for many days before he had been covered with what they said appeared to be a pile of curtains.

It also appeared that a “shrine” made of personal items had been created around the man, whose cause of death was yet to be determined.

A 49-year-old woman was later charged with improperly offering an indignity to a human body.

While it was found she tampered with the man’s body, she has been found not guilty on the charge by reason of insanity.

The woman, who has name suppression, faced an unrelated charge of burglary of a Nelson sports club in January this year.

A woman has appeared in the Nelson District Court charged with tampering with the remains of a man's body. Photo / Tracy Neal

At a hearing in the Nelson District Court this week, Judge Jo Rielly said that while the acts were committed,the evidence showed the woman had not done anything nasty, degrading or inappropriate.

However, the woman’s actions, and inactions in not seeking help or assistance in regard to the man’s remains, and some of the things she did do, amounted to a level of misconduct.

Police told the man’s body was on the deck

The woman had been living with the man at his Nelson home, and was there when police arrived on the evening of January 10 this year on an unrelated matter.

As police talked with her, she told them her partner had died and was upstairs, out on the deck.

When the police went to inspect, they saw a “body-like shape” under a cover on an open deck at the front of the property.

The deck was surrounded by a high wooden fence and was not visible from the road.

Police said there was a “very strong smell of decomposition”.

They later found a body in an advanced state of decomposition, which could not be visually identified.

He was later identified from one remaining fingerprint.

A “shrine” made from various personal items had been created on the deck around the dead man.

Man’s last movements recorded on CCTV

Analysis of financial and telecommunications records, plus CCTV footage, revealed the man’s last movements and activity were late in the afternoon of December 27 last year.

He was last seen alive about 5.13pm that day at a supermarket.

The next day, a 111 call was received from an unknown female caller from an unlisted and unsubscribed cell phone number.

She told the 111 operator that she wasn’t sure what to say, but the man was lying dead outside.

The caller said no more and hung up.

No further information was available as to who the caller was or where they were located.

The police told NZME that significant efforts were made by them and other emergency services to trace the caller.

After police discovered the man’s body on January 10, inquiries revealed that the call was made from a cell phone used by the deceased man and the woman at the address.

It was believed that he lay dead on the deck at the address from some time after December 27 until his discovery by the police 14 days later.

When spoken to by police, the woman said the man had died when she was asleep, and that he had “been there for a long time”.

When asked why she didn’t ring the police she said she was going to, but just “hadn’t got around to it”.

Cause of death unknown

A post-mortem was conducted but because of the man’s advanced state of decomposition, a cause of death was not immediately apparent.

His death has been referred to the coroner.

The woman has since made several court appearances, and has been assessed by what Judge Rielly described as eminent health assessors in psychiatry.

One made it clear that at the relevant time, between December 27 last year and January 12 this year, there was clinical evidence to prove she met the criteria of having a significant disorder.

There was further evidence to support that she was incapable of understanding her actions were morally wrong.

A more recent report by a consultant psychiatrist found the woman suffered a severe and persistent mental disorder immediately after she found the man’s body.

As a consequence, she had impaired capacity and had put herself at risk, Judge Rielly said.

It was the expert’s opinion that she was unlikely to have understood the nature of the allegations at the time.

Judge Rielly said in finding the woman not guilty by reason of insanity that she had not understood the nature and quality of her actions or that they were morally wrong.

The woman has been remanded on bail to appear again later at a hearing to formally end the proceedings.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.