A person who was 16 years old when she allegedly participated in the kidnapping and murder of a 17-year-old in South Auckland four years ago has been found fit to stand trial.
The woman remains at the Mason Clinic, a locked-down psychiatric facility, but appeared at the High Court at Auckland today via audio-video feed.
Justice Sally Fitzgerald approved defence lawyer David Niven's request for interim name suppression until the woman's next court appearance. She had previously been granted permanent name suppression for as long as she was deemed unfit to stand trial.
Co-defendants Ashley Winter and Kerry Te Amo were found guilty by a jury in September 2019 of murdering Dimetrius Pairama, whose body had been discovered in a rusty steel drum at a state house in Māngere just over a year earlier.
Kerry Te Amo and Ashley Winter were sentenced to life imprisonment. Photo / Sam Hurley
Authorities said the duo tortured Pairama over several hours before making her chose how she would die: by stabbing or hanging.
Winter and Te Amo were ordered to serve life sentences as a result - with Winter required to serve at least 19 years and four months before she can apply for parole and Te Amo required to serve at least 19 years.
But the third defendant never went to trial after the Court of Appeal deemed her unfit. She was found to suffer from mild intellectual disability and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
The Court of Appeal said she could understand the charges against her, enter pleas, and understand the consequences. But she would not have been able to instruct her lawyers and meaningfully participate in the trial, the court previously found.
Justice Fitzgerald has scheduled a four-week trial to begin in July next year.
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House of horrors murder: Teen accused of participating in 2018 torture killing found fit for trial
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