James Tuwhangai stabbed woman 18 times outside police station

James Tuwhangai stabbed a woman 18 times outside the Taumarunui Police Station last year. Image / Google Maps

A man has admitted the attempted murder of a woman after stabbing her 18 times outside a police station.

James Tuwhangai this morning made a brief appearance in the High Court at Hamilton before Justice Kiri Tahana when he admitted the charge.

The 23-year-old stabbed the woman outside Taumarunui Police Station “on or about” October 21, last year.

The victim was left in a critical condition and required “extensive surgery”, Crown Solicitor Jacinda Hamilton told Justice Tahana today.

The judge explained that she had received four reports assessing Tuwhangai’s mental health and said she found him mentally impaired but that “he is not unfit to stand trial”.

It was then that his lawyer, Kerry Burroughs, entered a guilty plea to the charge.

Justice Tahana ordered further, more up-to-date medical information about the victim, about the extent of treatment she had received since being stabbed, and her present condition.

Hamilton would also organise a more up-to-date summary of facts document, which would outline what happened that day.

When questioned about interim name suppression by the judge, Burroughs confirmed that it had now lapsed.

Burroughs asked that the case be referred to restorative justice to see if the victim was willing to meet with his client before sentencing.

“It might be successful, it might not be,” Burroughs said.

Justice Tahana agreed to refer the matter, ordered a pre-sentence report, and remanded Tuwhangai in custody for sentencing on October 21, a year to the day after the attack.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.