Murder accused thought neighbour employed to spy on him

Wayne John Reid. Photo / NZPA

A man accused of murdering his elderly neighbour was suffering from a major depressive episode with psychotic features at the time of the killing, a court has been told.

Wayne John Reid, 59, has pleaded not guilty in the High Court at Auckland to murdering 84-year-old Beryl Campbell at her west Auckland unit in February 2008, on the grounds of insanity.

Psychiatrist Ian Goodwin, who conducted about eight interviews with Reid after the killing, said in his opinion Reid could not have fully appreciated the moral wrongness of what he was doing when he entered Ms Campbell's flat, accused her of spying on him and, when she denied this, strangled her to death.

Reid's psychological state began to deteriorate in 2007 when he was demoted from his position as a truck driver for Wattyl Paints - a position he had been in for close to 30 years and dearly loved - to a storeman, Dr Goodwin said.

He was convinced that people at his work were spying and that he would be sacked and would lose his home as a result.

Reid could not explain why he thought his workmates wanted him gone, but told the doctor it might have had something to do with an incident when he retrieved some expired diaries from the rubbish at work and, although he had his boss's permission to do this, he thought his colleagues suspected him of stealing.

Reid increasingly began to isolate himself from other people and sometimes spent entire days in his bedroom, where he would hear his workmates' voices telling him he would lose his job.

He also believed his neighbour had been employed by the company to take pictures of him and that an alarm clock on Ms Campbell's dressing table was an infrared camera aimed at his bedroom.

After he strangled her, Reid collected cameras he found in Ms Campbell's home and threw them into a lake behind railway tracks in Henderson, west Auckland. He is still not convinced that they do not contain pictures of him, Dr Goodwin said.

He attempted suicide a few days later, and was unconscious and not breathing when he was found by his son.

The court also heard evidence from Reid's long-time friend and colleague, Sam Tohilima, who said it was "devastating" for Reid when he lost his job as a truck driver and was made to do menial jobs in the factory instead.

He started losing weight, taking lots of sick leave and "just wasn't the same Wayne anymore", Mr Tohilima said.

Three psychiatrists giving evidence in the trial were all essentially in agreement that Reid was going through a severe depressive episode with psychotic features at the time of the killing, the court was told.

Whether this constituted a disease of the mind - the basis of the insanity defence - was a legal, not medical matter.

- NZPA