Police at the scene of the homicide at the supported living facility on Norfolk Street in Whangārei. Photo / Brodie Stone
Police at the scene of the homicide at the supported living facility on Norfolk Street in Whangārei. Photo / Brodie Stone
WARNING: This article discusses violence and may be upsetting to some readers.
Just one day after a court ordered Jack Korewha into indefinite detention for killing his stepfather during a period of acute schizophrenia, the same courtroom has confronted an almost identical tragedy.
Richard Philip Adams, 54, has now becomethe second man in a week to be detained indefinitely as a special patient after murdering a close family member while gripped by the same severe illness.
The two killings occurred months apart but share the same devastating thread: untreated or unstable schizophrenia with catastrophic consequences.
Richard Adams had an established history of treatment-resistant schizophrenia he had been living with for 30 years.
Both he and his cousin, Toby Mike Adams, 62, were subject to community mental health orders and lived in a shared facility where they were monitored daily by support staff.
Sometime during the day on March 15, 2025, Richard Adams became annoyed at his cousin and went into his bedroom.
He inflicted 20 blows to Toby Adams’ head before returning to his room.
When a support worker arrived to administer their daily medication, Richard Adams told her his cousin was in bed asleep.
Toby Adams was found deceased in his bedroom from extensive blunt force trauma to the head.
When spoken to by police, Richard Adams said he had assaulted his cousin because he “wanted some peace and quiet”.
He was taken into custody and charged with his murder.
After six months of appearances in the High Court, and several investigative reports, he was declared unfit to stand trial in December.
Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith said Adams had been living with well-established schizophrenia since 1991 which was treatment-resistant.
Doctors reported Adams had limited understanding of what was occurring in forensic interviews and could not recall prior court proceedings.
He had a history of violent offending, much related to his chronic mental illness and also experienced chronic hallucinations, cognitive impairment and psychosis.
Adams told doctors the only thing he could recall from the offending was that the victim had been “embarrassing by his behaviour”.
“Mr Adams’ response to mental health treatments over the long term has been at least partial and he continues to have both positive and negative effects of psychosis,” Justice Wilkinson-Smith said.
“He has limited capacity to engage in any analysis of his behaviour at the time of the index offence and poor insight into his needs.”
Justice Wilkinson-Smith said Adams met the threshold for special patient status as his ongoing requirements were high.
“Under special patient status, Mr Adams could not be discharged without the highest level of health, namely the Minister of Health.
“There is a need to consider the protection of the public from further offending. Mr Adams himself must receive treatment to ensure he is safe from future offending.”
Adams was ordered to be detained in a mental health facility indefinitely.
Rita Tawhai and her partner Geoffrey Ware, who died in May 2025.
Similar circumstances
Korewha, 27, had been living with schizophrenia for four years before he fatally stabbed his mother’s partner, Geoffrey Ware.
He had been in and out of mental health wards and prescribed a range of treatment for his mental health.
At the time of Ware’s death in early May, 2025, Korewha had just begun a new medication for his schizophrenia. His mother, Rita Tawhai, was concerned he should have been in a facility while this was occurring and said her partner’s death could have been avoided.
He was declared unfit to stand trial at the High Court in Whangārei in December and ordered to be detained in a secure mental health facility on Tuesday.
It is still unclear to professionals whether his illness will stabilise and he is deemed a risk to society and himself.
Tawhai told the court yesterday she believes her partner’s death could have been avoided if her son had been placed in a secure facility during his medication change.
“To lose the love of my life is heartbreaking. To lose my son to a system that doesn’t work is devastating.
“I had talked with the mental health team and was disappointed they didn’t help sooner,” she said.
“Poor decisions have caused the love of my life to be lost.”
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
