Man who killed Michelle Kaipara believed she was a robot and received a ‘sign’ from TV show Peaky Blinders

The man who killed Kawerau mother Michelle Kaipara​ believed she was a robot at the time he stabbed her, and that “all the women in the world had been transformed by Artificial Intelligence”.

The man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was acquitted of her murder at the High Court in Rotorua on Thursday, with Justice Matthew Palmer ruling he was “insane at the time he committed the offences”.

Acquitting the man of one charge of murder and one charge of assaulting a police officer, he said “you are not criminally responsible”.

The man was ordered to be detained as a special patient in a mental health facility.

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The court heard evidence from forensic psychologists Dr Peter Dean and Dr Jeremy Skipworth​, who had both assessed the man in the wake of the killing.

Dean said he was “confident he has a diagnosis of schizophrenia”.

He said the man believed there was an Illuminati conspiracy against him, was hearing voices and believed that “all the women in the world had been transformed by Artificial Intelligence”.

He said in his police interview the man said he believed Kaipara was “an AI machine” and not really dead.

“He said he thought she’d been taken to the hospital to be repaired.”

Skipworth also gave evidence and echoed much of Dean’s view.

He said the man believed killing Kaipara “might save the world” and that he believed he was receiving messages from the British TV series Peaky Blinders.

He said the man believed a specific scene in the show “was a sign for him”.

Skipworth also said he believed the man was schizophrenic, “the most serious kind of psychotic illness”.

Both Dean and Skipworth recommended he be placed in a secure mental health facility.

Crown prosecutor Duncan McWilliam​ also read a victim impact statement from Kaipara’s cousin, in which she described their “shock and disbelief” at the killing.

“This is something that happens on TV, not whānau like us, we’re boring,” she said.

“How does one recover from this?”

Justice Palmer said this was a “tragic case”, but agreed there was clear evidence to support Dean and Skipworth’s opinions.

“He became convinced his acts would save the world,” he said.

“He was insane at the time he committed the offences.”

Kaipara died in 2021 after emergency services were called to Kawerau and found her with critical injuries, dying soon after.

In a statement released at the time from her whānau they described her as “the epitome of joy and love”.

“Her memory lives on in her tamariki,” they said.