Paul Tainui, formerly known as Paul Wilson, murdered Christchurch woman Nicole Tuxford while on life parole for the murder of ex-girlfriend Kimberley Schroder in 1994. Photo: Supplied by NZ Herald
A Coroner's Court has heard a convicted murderer was repeatedly assessed as posing a medium-to-high risk of harm to others in the community while on parole.
Paul Tainui raped and murdered his ex-girlfriend Kimberley Schroder in 1994.
In 2018, while on life parole, Tainui raped and murdered Nicole Tuxford in her Christchurch home.
An inquest into her murder and the suspected suicide of Gary Schroder, the father of Tainui's first victim, continued in Ōtautahi today.
Chief probation officer Darius Fagan told the court probation officers regularly saw Tainui during his parole, which began in January 2011.
"When Tainui had been on parole for seven years, he was still being seen weekly and fortnightly... A probation officer can, in the case of life parole, extend that contact interval up to 40 working days."
That was never the case for Tainui.
Assessments were carried out by probation staff at most of the meetings, with staff regularly noting concerns about Tainui's behaviour, he noted.
"At various points he was assessed as having low or medium risk of re-offending, depending on the circumstances at the time. In terms of risk of harm to others, his level of risk fluctuated between medium and high," Fagan said.
In the months leading up to Tuxford's murder, Tainui's risk of re-offending steadily increased, he detailed.
In late 2017, his risk of harm to the community was also increased from what Fagan described to the court as an "already high score" of four.
Around this time, a probation officer and a services manager began to investigate a series of minor crashes Tainui had been involved in.
"In particular they were concerned that alcohol could have been a factor or that he may have been driving when his GP advised him otherwise [due to Tainui's suspected epilepsy]. A recall [to prison] application was being considered and the Corrections Regional High Risk Response Team were advised," Fagan said.
For just over four months, from the end of 2017 to Tuxford's murder, probation officers marked Tainui as presenting the highest risk to others since being granted parole.
Nikki Pender, the lawyer acting for the victim's families, described an altercation which happened between Tainui and a workmate during this time.
"That employee, having found out about Tainui's past, had raised concerns about Tainui visiting Tuxford's house outside of work hours," she said.
Tainui made repeated visits over the space of a few weeks, Pender noted.
"Two months later ... there was a meeting where Tainui was still ruminating about not being allowed to visit Nicole's house ... At that point in the conversation, a manager says to him 'What's a 50-year-old man doing hanging around a young girl's house anyway?'."
Fagan confirmed Corrections were advised of the altercation but not why it had occurred.
Had it been disclosed, it would have been "treated very seriously", he said.
Despite these actions, assessments and concerns, police had no readily accessible record of the increasing risk Corrections believed Tainui possessed.
Therefore, when he blew over the legal limit at a routine alcohol checkpoint the night before he raped and murdered Tuxford, he was not taken into custody or recalled for an emergency Parole Board hearing.
The inquest continues tomorrow.
