Nicole Tuxford inquest: Three lives lost to a criminal psychopath

Paul Tainui was showered with kindness and repaid it by brutally raping and murdering two young women.

Warning: The content of this story may be distressing to some readers

The criminal pscyhopath’s actions also directly contributed to a third death — the father of one of his victims.

Coronial findings released on Wednesday showed Tainui — who was born Paul Wilson — misled and lied to those trying to help him reintegrate into society, following more than 16 years behind bars.

Tainui was jailed after raping and murdering his former girlfriend Kimberley Schroder in 1994 and was later a groomsman at David Bain’s wedding after the pair served time in prison together.

Seven years after his release, Wilson raped and murdered Nicole Tuxford in her Christchurch home on April 7, 2018. Heartbroken by the news his daughter’s murderer had killed again, Gary Schroder took his own life less than 72 hours later.

Following Tuxford’s murder, Tainui was identified as a criminal psychopath.

However, testing in 2010 ahead of his parole failed to indicate psychopathy and found Tainui had a low risk of reoffending.

Coroner Marcus Elliott held a joint inquest into the deaths of Nicole Tuxford and Gary Schroder, finding Corrections failed to identify the acute risk to Tuxford’s life at the time of her death because of a systemic issue with the department’s processes.

Tainui’s risk of reoffending was at its greatest in the context of potential or actual intimate relationships with women.

Coroner Elliott found the Parole Board was aware of that risk when it granted Tainui parole in late 2010.

“The risk assessment process … correctly identified that Mr Tainui would not reoffend within five years. It correctly identified the particular area of heightened risk. However, it did not identify that he was a criminal psychopath who was at chronic risk of committing extremely callous and brutal crimes even seven years after release,” he said.

“The words of Mr and Mrs Schroder to the Parole Board in 2010 proved to be prophetic: We know he will reoffend again, it’s just a matter of when.”

‘His face was like thunder’

Tainui’s probation officer was also aware of his risk to people he was intimate with or even perceived himself to be in a relationship with, but his employer did not have an appreciation of the threat he posed to women he became attached to.

Tainui had worked with Tuxford and developed feelings for her during that time, even sending her flowers to their workplace — the name of which was suppressed — in February 2017.

His employment was facilitated by the Pathway Trust, which had also been assisting Joseph Brider at the time he brutally murdered Juliana Bonilla-Herrera in her Christchurch home in January 2022, just nine weeks after he was paroled from prison on a rape conviction.

Tuxford rebuffed his affections, but “due to her kindness and goodness of heart” chose to see the “potential for good” in Tainui, believed he deserved a second chance and offered him friendship.

The 27-year-old and her workmates were aware of Tainui’s feelings towards her but, unaware of the risk he posed to her, this information was not shared with Corrections or the company’s directors.

“Corrections was responsible for managing the risk that Mr Tainui would reoffend. This included responsibility for identifying the risk, monitoring it and taking steps to address areas of increased risk,” coroner Elliott said.

“The risk management process broke down because the probation officers, who did not know Mr Tainui was a criminal psychopath, did not have crucial information relating to an area of identified risk, namely Mr Tainui’s feelings about and actions towards Ms Tuxford.

“If Corrections had this information, a recall application would have been made. It is likely that this would have resulted in Mr Tainui returning to prison. However, even if it did not, steps could still have been taken to minimise the ongoing risk to Ms Tuxford.”

Tuxford left the employer about a month before her death, but remained friends and in contact with many who worked there, including Tainui.

At the time of Tuxford’s murder, Tainui had been spiralling, including drinking heavily and ranting to people about his perceived betrayal by Tuxford.

At a party a week before her death, Tuxford told someone Tainui had threatened to burn down her house.

A co-worker told Tuxford to change her phone number and keep away from Tainui.

“She told me that she wanted to see that there is any good left in a person that has done something like he had done,” the co-worker said.

Another employee of the company said they noticed a change in Tainui in the days before he murdered Tuxford.

“He came across more angry,” the worker said.

“As I was wiping the table, he came out and said, ‘Bloody Nic, she’s a bloody liar’.

“He was like ranting. His face was like thunder. It’s like his eyes were dark and he just sounded really angry. I had to stop looking at him. I had never seen his face like this before. It wasn’t the Paul I knew.”

Tainui told the worker he had been seeing Tuxford for the past 18 months and had also told a friend he had been in a relationship with her for that time.

He was not — he was infatuated with her.

The co-worker said Tainui claimed Tuxford had been lying to him.

“Paul, you need to stop,” the worker said.

“She is trying to be a friend to you.”

Three lives lost to a criminal psychopath

The following evening Tainui drank at a bar, before driving to Tuxford’s home.

He sent her a text message and tried to call her, but she was at her partner’s home and did not pick up or respond.

Tainui was stopped by police at an alcohol checkpoint, processed for excess breath alcohol and forbidden from driving.

He was carrying two large knives with him, which he was not permitted to take and they remained locked in the boot of his car.

Police released Tainui and he caught a taxi to a location near Tuxford’s home. He broke in and lay in wait for hours.

When Tuxford returned home the following morning, Tainui overpowered her.

She fought him off, even biting him and attempting to alert a tradesman who had come to her address to do electrical work.

Tainui assaulted her, gagged her and bound her with insulation tape.

His attack was so vicious she was almost decapitated.

The murder was chilling, not only in its brutality, but its similarity to Schroder’s death.

Police officers visited the home of Schroder’s parents the following day — April 8, 2018 — to inform them Tainui had been arrested for Tuxford’s rape and murder.

Coroner Elliott said Nancy Schroder found her husband dead in the garage in the early hours of April 10, 2018, after he took his own life.

“Kimberley Schroder and Nicole Tuxford died due to the criminal actions of Paul Tainui,” he said.

“His crimes also led to the death of Gary Schroder who, his heart and spirit broken, took his own life.”

The coroner investigated whether there were any fundamental flaws that meant Tainui’s criminal psychopathy was missed by testing in 2010.

Coroner Elliott found the personality disorder and testing for it was complex and not every psychopath presented as “Hannibal Lecter”.

“The presentation of a psychopath may vary. There was evidence that some people can be more psychopathic in some settings at some times and less in others. In addition, people with high levels of psychopathy can ‘adapt’ such that they live without displaying antisocial behaviour and show little evidence of some psychopathic traits,” he said.

“Against this background, I have concluded that the 2010 psychopathy test was administered in an appropriate way and the psychologist’s assessment of risk was reasonable based on the evidence available at that time. As a result, Mr Tainui’s actual level of psychopathy remained unidentified before he was released on parole. The effect of this was that neither the Parole Board nor the probation officers who subsequently managed Mr Tainui received a crucial piece of information, namely that he was a criminal psychopath, albeit one who was ‘adapting’ while in prison.

“This unsatisfactory situation illustrates that, even if competently administered, psychopathy testing is a limited, and in the case of Mr Tainui, inadequate, tool to assess the risk of reoffending. It was inadequate in this case because, despite being competently administered, it did not identify that Mr Tainui was a psychopath.”

Recommendations and changes

Coroner Elliott assessed whether changes to psychopathy testing could have detected Tainui’s personality disorder and his management by Corrections.

“Psychopathy is a personality disorder with enduring behavioural characteristics and traits. The rape and murder of Ms Schroder were the actions of a criminal psychopath,” he said.

“Mr Tainui must have had the traits of a psychopath when he was assessed in 2010 at the request of the Parole Board. However, the psychopathy test result was well below a level indicating psychopathy and Mr Tainui was considered to be at a low risk of reoffending (other than in relation to a specific set of circumstances).”

Elliott ultimately found psychopathy testing was just one tool in the risk assessment for an offender.

But risk assessment was not a prediction and no tool could ever totally safeguard against reoffending.

“There is unfortunately no recommendation I can make to prevent this from happening.

“However, it is likely that a murderer would now be identified as a psychopath as part of the sentencing process. This was not the case in 1994 when Mr Tainui was sentenced for murdering Ms Schroder.

“If he had been identified as a psychopath at that time, this would have informed the approach of the psychologists who treated him and assessed the risk of reoffending,” he said.

While he did not make any recommendations in relation to psychopathy testing or risk assessment, Elliott emphasised the importance of psychologists using psychopathy testing remaining conscious of its limitations.

The coroner recommended the Department of Corrections chief executive and justice secretary consider providing advice to relevant ministers about amending the Parole Act to give the Parole Board greater powers and an extended period of monitoring for offenders.

He also recommended Corrections amend its management of offenders so specific areas of risk were identified and shared with employers and co-workers where necessary.

‘He’s a very cunning, evil man’

Kimberley Schroder’s close friend and Schroder family spokesperson Jenny Keogan said the family was happy with the coroner’s findings and recommendations, particularly the recognition of shortcomings in Corrections’ management of Tainui’s risk to women.

“Practises and processes need to be put in place throughout these agencies and government services to ensure that there’s a better flow of communication and people aren’t being left in the dark about when they’re taking on someone that’s gone through the justice system,” she said.

The family was also pleased the coroner found Tainui’s actions led to the death of Gary Schroder.

“We’re very pleased with that acknowledgement when it comes to Gary,” Keogan said.

“For the Schroder family, this journey has been going on now for 30 years right back to when Wilson offended the first time and murdered Nancy and Gary’s daughter.”

Keogan said Tuxford and Schroder’s decency had cost them their lives because of Tainui’s evil.

“He’s a very cunning, evil man. He is a psychopath,” she said.

“For the last 30 years, he’s lived a life full of lies and he’s taken down a lot of people through his behaviour.

“He always managed to say all the right things to all the right people and that’s regardless of whether they’re qualified people or just with people that he met in his life.

“Unfortunately two beautiful young woman actually also took the time to believe in him and they paid the greatest consequence.”

She hoped the coroner’s recommendations and changes following Tuxford’s death would mean no family would go through what they had.

Coroner Elliott said any account of the circumstances of the deaths of Kimberley Schroder, Tuxford and Gary Schroder would be deficient without reference to the many acts of kindness shown to Tainui.

“It was kindness which led to Ms Schroder and her mother visiting him in prison when he was convicted of assault in 1992. Out of sympathy, and believing him to be remorseful, Mr and Mrs Schroder helped him after he was released, allowing him to stay with them on the night of his release and engaging him to do some work for them.

“Two years later, Mr Tainui raped and murdered their daughter,” he said.

“It was kindness once again which prompted the owners of [his employer] to employ Mr Tainui, to give him an opportunity, despite knowing about his past.

“Due to her kindness and goodness of heart, Ms Tuxford, a 27-year-old woman, chose to see the potential for good in Mr Tainui, a convicted murderer in his fifties.

“She believed he deserved a second chance. Mr Tainui raped and murdered her, following which Mr Schroder took his own life.

“It is also only fair to acknowledge the efforts of the employees of the Department of Corrections and Pathway Trust who, in good faith, did their best to help Mr Tainui assume a place as a law-abiding member of the community and to identify and manage the risks he presented, a task made much more difficult by the fact that, by his own admission, he lied to them and misled them.”

Elliott did not criticise Pathway Trust or the Corrections probation officers who worked with Tainui, saying his co-workers were unaware of the risk he presented to women for which he had feelings due to “an apparently systemic issue, namely the absence of any mechanism or guidance for probation officers to obtain this information, balancing the privacy of the offender and the need for third-party verification”.

Victim advocate Ruth Money — who worked with the Tuxford and Schroder families — said she did not agree with that aspect of the coroner’s findings.

“I accept that it is a systemic issue, but personally I disagree with the fact that those people can’t be named,” she said.

“They did the job — or didn’t do the job as the case may be — and yes, while they were employed by Corrections, they are individuals who made very dangerous decisions that ultimately cost someone their life. So for them not to be named and and not to be held accountable, it’s pretty difficult for those families.”

The risk posed by Tainui was known and not shared with those who needed to know most, Money said.

“Nicole would be alive if Corrections had listened to the family in those parole hearings and probation officers did their job getting the information that was out there. It was available, but it was never asked for,” she said.

But Money largely accepted coroner Elliott’s findings and recommendations.

“I think they’re really responsible findings from Coroner Elliott,” she said.

“They identify that there were certainly some holes in the whole process and the Department of Corrections had some things to work on. So we’re glad that he has identified them.

“I think there are some really well-meaning people in the sector, but that also causes blinkers. You’ve got to validate, you’ve got to verify the information you’re getting or not getting and people need to prove that they’re trustworthy. They can’t just be assumed to be telling the truth.”

Authorities respond

A police spokesperson said they extended their sincere condolences to the families of Tuxford, and Kimberley and Gary Schroder.

“Police and Corrections have worked to make improvements to support frontline officers who may come into contact with life parolees,” the spokesperson said.

“This includes an alert on the police database to advise an officer of relevant information about a life parolee, and further direction about how they should be dealt with, including making contact with Corrections via an incident line to advise of the arrest and to ascertain whether a recall application will be made.”

In a statement, Department of Corrections’ deputy chief executive of communities, partnerships and pathways Sean Mason said it acknowledged the final findings that the department received earlier this month.

“We are working through the recommendations made by the coroner.

“As outlined in the findings, we have committed to considering the legislative recommendations that would impact the Parole Act 2002.

“This includes exploring the New Zealand Parole Board having post-release monitoring powers for a longer period of time and enabling probation officers to initiate applications to the Parole Board to conduct a monitoring or progress hearing under section 29(2)(b).”

“We also have a number of other relevant changes underway, including improving our existing guidance for probation officers on engaging with employers.

“We’re also enhancing training for staff on several topics, including manipulation and deception training.

“As part of their initial learning pathway, all probation officers complete this training.”

The department extended its “heartfelt condolences” to the family and friends of Tuxford, and Kimberley and Gary Schroder.

“No family should ever have to experience the unimaginable pain brought about by the serious and devastating offending of Paul Tainui,” Mason said.

“I acknowledge the ongoing suffering they have experienced, and the courage and commitment that they have shown in their work to prevent other families from experiencing losses like theirs.

“We are always committed to learning from events where a person has re-offended and do everything we can to prevent them from happening again.”

rnz.co.nz