Violent inmate Anthony John Wheble’s insanity plea rejected by appeals court

Anthony John Wheble during his sentencing in 2022.
Photo: NZ Herald/ Michael Craig

Anthony John Wheble has tried to kill two fellow inmates with rods, cut off parts of his own ears, an eyelid and a finger and had obsessive-compulsive thoughts about prison guards.

But despite this disturbing pattern of behavior, the Court of Appeal is not convinced that he is legally insane.

Now, with his insanity appeal rejected in a decision released this week, Wheble’s pretrial detention orders and consecutive convictions for attempted murder remain in place.

Wheble’s first attempted murder came in October 2019 when he slit the throat of inmate Diego Marques-Santos at the Otago Correctional Facility.

Wheble reportedly chased his victim around the day room before grabbing him from behind and making an 8cm cut to his throat.

For this crime, Wheble was sentenced to seven years.

The next brutal attack occurred in the exercise yard of Pāremoremo prison on 12 January 2020.

The victim, Brent Charlton, had both legs in casts from an unrelated injury and was sitting on the floor when Wheble approached with a walking stick.

The weapon was made from a sharp toothbrush with a disposable razor blade inserted into the end.

Wheble kicked the victim in the forehead, then lifted his head and repeatedly stabbed him in the face before letting him go and punching him five more times in the head.

With the victim now unconscious, Wheble lifted the victim’s head up cutting both of his eyelids and then stabbed him 14 more times in the face.

As the victim collapsed, Wheble repeatedly slashed the right side of his neck causing a deep laceration to an artery, stepped back and kicked the victim in the head seven more times.

The assault was recorded on CCTV and, despite suffering serious injuries, the victim survived and Wheble was charged with attempted murder.

Wheble pleaded guilty on the morning of his trial on 8 February 2022 and was sentenced in the High Court in Auckland to pre-trial detention and a minimum non-parole period of five years.

His behavior in court was routinely disruptive and involved demands to speak to the judge, head-butting a security guard and jumping out of the dock in front of the lawyer.

Wheble filed an appeal against his conviction earlier this year arguing that his guilty plea was entered without regard to his mental fitness to plead or the possible availability of an insanity defense.

Wheble’s new lawyer, Annabel Creswell, presented evidence to the Court of Appeal (COA) about his mental health, including records of long-standing psychiatric problems.

Creswell argued that his previous lawyer, Baden Meyer, had requested a section 38 mental health report on three separate occasions, all of which had been refused. Judge Fitzgerald, in rejecting the applications, noted that Wheble was aware of the progress of the proceedings and did not meet the threshold for such reporting.

Meyer gave evidence to the COA that Wheble was fit to plead guilty and that his decision to do so was rational and informed.

Psychiatric reports submitted for appeal revealed that Wheble had a history of schizophrenia, paranoid delusions and other psychiatric symptoms that raised concerns about his mental state at the time of the crime and during his statement.

At a psychiatrist’s meeting in 2020, notes recorded him as being vague about violent fantasies and alluding to “strange spiritual descriptions.”

“He described his actions in relation to the incident as a spiritual thing where he said he had to do it to protect the people and animals outside (referring to the outer prison), he denied it was planned, he say, “All my worries will be taken care of,” the report said.

From 2020 to March 2022, Wheble was recorded as having various paranoid delusions, non-compliance with medication and obsessive thoughts of self-harm, and in December 2022 he had cut off parts of his ears, eyelid and left ring finger .

The COA found that, despite Wheble’s psychiatric history, there was insufficient evidence to show that he was unfit to plead or did not understand legal procedures. The court determined that Wheble’s decision to plead guilty was rational and informed.

While Wheble’s psychiatric reports indicated the presence of schizophrenia, the court found that his actions during the crime and his understanding of the legal implications did not support an insanity defense.

“We are satisfied that there was no error by trial counsel in failing to explore an insanity defense. Once Mr. Meyer was satisfied that Mr. Wheble was fit to practice law, in our view, he did not being able to ignore Mr. Wheble’s instruction that he did not want to pursue a defense of insanity.

“We conclude that Mr. Wheble was competent to plead guilty and has failed to demonstrate that his counsel’s conduct deprived him of a viable defense,” the decision said.

The appeal was dismissed.

* This story originally appeared on the Herald of New Zealand.

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