Shargin Stephens shooting inquest: Police bail checks contributed to state of mind - psychiatrist

A culturally mediated approach to bail monitoring might have helped prevent a man being fatally shot by police metres from his family marae in Rotorua, a forensic psychiatrist has told a coroner’s inquest.

He also found Shargin Stephens, 35, possibly would not have had such a “short fuse” the day he was shot had he obeyed a bail condition to not use drugs.

Before the 2016 shooting, Stephens was subject to 70 bail checks in 38 days while on electronically monitored bail at his home, sometimes multiple a day and overnight.

Stephens died 12 days after he was tasered, pepper-sprayed then shot twice by police. Five minutes earlier Stephens had attacked an empty police car with an exercise weight and a long-handled slasher.

An IPCA report, released in 2022, found “unreasonable and oppressive” bail checks on Stephens by police may have contributed to his actions.

Coroner Michael Robb began the inquest at Rotorua’s coronial offices in November and made a preliminary finding on August 23 that the officer who pulled the trigger had pre-determined he would shoot Stephens if he did not drop the slasher.

The 148-page findings document cannot be reported in full until after the coroner has heard further evidence and makes a final finding.

The inquest resumed in the Hamilton District Court on Monday.

Shargin Stephens was fatally shot by police after he attacked an empty police car on July 14, 2016. He died 12 days later in hospital.

On Wednesday, forensic psychiatrist Dr James Cavney told the inquest the nature and frequency of police bail checks on Stephens’ home significantly contributed to his state of mind on the day he was shot.

“I form the opinion that the shame Mr Stephens experienced in relation to the police presence likely resonated with his childhood,” Cavney said.

Commenting from his 2023 report, Cavney said intergenerational transmission of trauma stemming from colonisation was relevant in thinking of Stephens as a Māori man in 2016.

“A limitation of the report [is] that I’ve never met Mr Stephens. What was going on for him on the day is not accessible certainly to me.”

To form the opinions in his report Cavney said he “relied very much on whānau” members he spoke with at an “extensive” December 2022 hui, and witness statements.

Cavney said Stephens, who was of Te Arawa and Ngāpuhi descent, “didn’t flag as a problem child” living on whānau-dominated papakāinga (housing on ancestral land) in Rotorua.

“What stood out to me, there was quite a strong sense of tikanga [and] faith.”

This changed in Stephens’ “tumultuous” adolescence when after experiencing marginalisation and loss of extended whānau support while living in Auckland, and he associated more with his father’s gang-affiliated friends.

“Mr Stephens didn’t really seem to have any rules imposed on him other than one: Don’t bring any heat home.”

Stephens began using alcohol and drugs while in Auckland.

At age 18, he returned to Rotorua where he received his first custodial sentence for burglary.

“In his adult years, he was a recidivist dishonesty offender, often motor vehicle thefts.”

The inquest is being heard in the Hamilton District Court.

According to Cavney’s report, in recent years Stephens could use 0.1 grams or 0.3g of meth a week.

“I would clinically characterise that as a lot. That level of use tends to lead to sleep deprivation, fatigue and irritability.”

But Cavney said it was not enough to cause psychosis in the “average person”.

In the lead-up to Stephens’ death, Cavney said frequent bail checks built up “incremental pressure”.

Cavney said Stephens was anxious, embarrassed and ashamed of bringing police attention home.

“It seems to relate to his perception that he thought his neighbours would think he was a narc.”

Cavney said Stephens’ whānau described how decades of disregard of the cultural significance of marae had contributed to a “profound” and intergenerational distrust of police in the neighbourhood.

“The frequency and nature of bail checks from June 7 to July 14 are likely to have had a cumulative stress on Mr Stephens such that he was pushed beyond his tolerance.”

Cavney said Stephens’ attack on the police car on July 14, the day of the shooting, was a “cathartic expression” of his anger and frustration.

“It is unlikely that Mr Stephens was acutely intoxicated with methamphetamine,” Cavney said.

“It’s got quite a short half-life. He was probably more likely suffering from the post-meth down.

“I felt it fair and balanced to point out that had Mr Stephens actually complied with the conditions of his bail and not used alcohol and drugs it is possible he would not have had such a short fuse on that day.”

Cavney said it was his view a more culturally mediated approach to bail monitoring involving hapū elders, cultural advisers or Māori wardens could have helped to prevent the situation.

“The cultural context of Mr Stephens’ case is profound and likely presents a missed opportunity for all involved.”

Cavney said it was not apparent whether police understood the symbolism of their continued presence on papakāinga.

“There might have been a softer way of engaging on essentially tribal land than police turning up in marked vehicles,” Cavney said.

“Any number of interventions can occur on a marae setting.”

The inquest also heard evidence from New Zealand Police deployment manager Inspector Andrew Fabish.

Coroner Robb told Fabish the issue of involving an iwi liaison officer in bail checks “loomed large” in the second half of the inquest.

“If [a person on bail] is struggling who do they talk to?” Coroner Robbs said.

“Where’s the thinking about how we might support this person with an iwi liaison?”

“It’s a little bit of a slow burn, unfortunately,” Fabish said.

Maryana Garcia is a Hamilton-based reporter covering breaking news in Waikato. She previously wrote for the Rotorua Daily Post and Bay of Plenty Times.