Charles Wharton has been detained as a special patient after previously being found unfit to stand trial over the September 2024 murder of Zahquiel Taipeti (inset). Photo / Belinda Feek / Supplied
The grandmother of an 8-year-old boy who she found bludgeoned to death in his bed says she’s still haunted by what she saw that day.
Ura Remuera was living next door to her sons, Mitikira and Brian Woods, and grandson Zahquiel Taipeti in Anthony Cres, Hamilton, when she heard loudnoises coming from their property on the afternoon of September 1, 2024.
She ran over to find Brian injured and, as she rang 111, she searched for Zahquiel.
Walking into the bedroom he shared with his father, Mitikira, she saw Zahquiel partially covered in a blanket and a hockey stick lying on him.
She flipped over the blanket to discover his horrific injuries.
Zahquiel’s killer, Charles Wharton, who also struck the boy’s father and uncle in the head with a hammer, was today detained at Waikato Hospital’s Henry Bennett Centre after involvement and determination hearings in the High Court at Hamilton.
The hearings were to confirm he accepted responsibility for Zahquiel’s murder, and charges of wounding Zahquiel’s father and uncle with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The court heard that two hours before the fatal attack, Wharton had been causing concern among residents of Willoughby St, Hamilton, after knocking on doors and hiding in bushes.
Officers eventually found him and dropped him back to the Anthony Cres house, where Zahquiel lived with his father, uncle and boarders, and where Wharton had been staying.
After greeting Wharton, Mitikiro went to his bedroom to rest and was woken some time later after being struck over the head with a weapon.
Brian was woken by the commotion and met Wharton in the doorway of his bedroom, where he was struck three times to the head.
A boarder, Kevin Wikitera, was woken by Brian’s screams and opened his door to find Brian and Wharton struggling with the hammer in the doorway.
When questioned by police soon after, Wharton said: “I felt like I was getting popped.
“They chased me. I feel like I’m possessed.
“I couldn’t control myself. Those people were inside me.”
Wharton, a schizophrenic, had earlier been found insane by Justice Mathew Downs, and he reappeared in the High Court at Hamilton today via audio-visual link from Waikato Hospital’s Henry Rongomai Bennett Centre this morning.
As Justice Peter Andrew ordered the 38-year-old to serve his sentence as a special patient, a member of the victims’ whānau stormed out of court, yelling: “Just shoot the fing c, already”.
Asked about the result outside court, Zahquiel’s aunty, Pani Laing, told NZMEthe whānau felt deflated.
She said the penalty did not give them any closure.
“Unjustified, disgusted. Like there was no honour to Zahquiel’s life because of his [Wharton’s] mental impairment.”
Laing said Zahquiel was “very brave” and that family meant everything to him.
“He loved his Dad.”
Speaking about her grandson, Remuera described him as “cheeky”.
“Playful, jokes around,” she said.
“He had a lot of love for his cousins.”
When asked about having found him, Remuera said, “it still haunts me”.
Mitikiro said that while his physical wounds may have healed, he was in “pause mode” because the process wasn’t over yet, with the coronial inquiry still to come.
The summary of facts in the homicide stretches four pages and details Wharton’s behaviour in the weeks before the attack, what he did that day and the injuries suffered by the victims.
But what it confirmed for whānau was that had police not dropped Wharton off at Anthony Cres that day, Zahquiel would still be alive.
Wharton was released from Springhill prison on August 12.
He then moved in with his cousin but was asked to leave after four days because of his “unusual behaviour”.
After leaving there, he began sleeping on the couch, on a casual basis, at Mitikiro’s home.
Wharton was the first cousin of Zahquiel’s mother, who died in August 2023.
However, while there, his “unusual behaviour” continued.
On August 30, a neighbour woke to find Wharton in his house and drinking a can of Cody’s bourbon.
He asked him to leave and Wharton was later seen hanging over the fence to the property.
Mitikiro spoke to Wharton about his behaviour, telling him to “sort himself out” otherwise he’d have to leave.
A neighbour, Jesse Curtis, also arrived and saw Brian in the hallway screaming for help.
He saw Wharton doing a “powerful swinging motion” with his arms, before being disarmed, then found Mitikiro in the lounge, bleeding from his head.
He helped Mitikiro outside before seeing Wharton fleeing on foot.
Curtis chased him in his car but was unable to find him.
Remuera then came over, saw Brian, and called 111 before finding Zahquiel.
Zahquiel was taken to hospital at 6.11pm but was pronounced dead at 8.07pm.
Brian was discharged the next day, while Mitikira was in hospital for two weeks.
In a recorded interview, Wharton said that he “whacked” Zahquiel, stating, “I done a little tap on the boy”, “I just whacked him”, and “I just went whack, you know, bang”.
When asked Zahquiel’s age, Wharton responded with, “young enough to be growing up to a [sic] evil murderer”.
An autopsy revealed Zahquiel died from blunt force trauma to the head from at least three strikes, two of which had caused underlying skull fractures and focal injuries to the brain.
The injuries had curved aspects, consistent with a weapon surface that was “circular and at least somewhat flattened”.
In her submission to the judge about determination, Crown prosecutor Jacinda Hamilton described Zahquiel’s injuries as “horrific”.
“There’s a plethora of evidence which establishes that the defendant was responsible for a violent attack.”
The hockey stick found lying on Zahquiel was the most likely weapon used by Wharton, she said, as it had his blood on it.
She said the disposition was equally uncontroversial.
“The circumstances in which Zahquiel died were horrific.
“The nature of the attack was unprovoked and against the most vulnerable in our community.”
Wharton had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and continued to suffer delusions.
Medical experts said Wharton’s risk was such that he needed to be detained as a special patient.
Wharton’s counsel Glenn Dixon agreed with the Crown on both points, accepting the evidence “clearly” indicated his client was responsible and that he be detained at Henry Bennett.