One from Down Under - William Murphy
Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 1:01 pm
Now here's a nice Kiwi bloke: William John Murphy.
In his latest escapades he robbed and assaulted a number of elderly women in the greater Auckland area, in some cases apparently gaining entry to their houses by claiming to be a plain clothes/undercover policeman. Murphy was arrested in June, crashing a stolen car after attempting to escape police then doing a runner through a mangrove swamp.
So far so normal... for certain values of normal.
Things took an unusual turn when Murphy appeared in the Auckland District Court by video-link from prison on 18 September. Facing some 20 charges, he refused to confirm his name. He faxed a letter to the court saying he was now Rangatira Wiremu Murphy. He denied he was the same person as the man charged with the assaults earlier this year, saying: "The capitalised entity that's on the charge documents is not me". Murphy represented himself after his legal aid lawyer was given leave to withdraw. Murphy also insisted he wanted time to "gain the right legal advice from somebody that's going to listen to my arguments".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11126535
It appears that he is actually calling himself Rangatira-Wiremu:Murphy©
(Rangatira means Chief in Maori, Wiremu is the Maori version of William)
At his next appearance on 25 September Mr Murphy continued to represent himself and the court appointed an amicus curiae for him. Mr Murphy had instructed "He does not believe that there is a lawyer that can represent him any better than he can himself."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11129969
Mr Murphy's conversion to the strange-name crowd does not seem to be one of long standing. I suspect that during his time in custody he has been influenced by various people. It will be interesting to see if he continues to hold his beliefs as the case approaches trial, which will probably not be until early next year, and which variations on the theme he attempts to put forward.
Mr Murphy has a prior history of violent and sexual offences going back over the past 18 years, since he was a teenager. Apparently he missed being sentenced to preventative detention by a whisker the last time around. He may not see outside of the prison yard for a long time.
http://www.safe-nz.org.nz/sxdb/murphywilliam.htm
In his latest escapades he robbed and assaulted a number of elderly women in the greater Auckland area, in some cases apparently gaining entry to their houses by claiming to be a plain clothes/undercover policeman. Murphy was arrested in June, crashing a stolen car after attempting to escape police then doing a runner through a mangrove swamp.
So far so normal... for certain values of normal.
Things took an unusual turn when Murphy appeared in the Auckland District Court by video-link from prison on 18 September. Facing some 20 charges, he refused to confirm his name. He faxed a letter to the court saying he was now Rangatira Wiremu Murphy. He denied he was the same person as the man charged with the assaults earlier this year, saying: "The capitalised entity that's on the charge documents is not me". Murphy represented himself after his legal aid lawyer was given leave to withdraw. Murphy also insisted he wanted time to "gain the right legal advice from somebody that's going to listen to my arguments".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11126535
It appears that he is actually calling himself Rangatira-Wiremu:Murphy©
(Rangatira means Chief in Maori, Wiremu is the Maori version of William)
At his next appearance on 25 September Mr Murphy continued to represent himself and the court appointed an amicus curiae for him. Mr Murphy had instructed "He does not believe that there is a lawyer that can represent him any better than he can himself."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11129969
Mr Murphy's conversion to the strange-name crowd does not seem to be one of long standing. I suspect that during his time in custody he has been influenced by various people. It will be interesting to see if he continues to hold his beliefs as the case approaches trial, which will probably not be until early next year, and which variations on the theme he attempts to put forward.
Mr Murphy has a prior history of violent and sexual offences going back over the past 18 years, since he was a teenager. Apparently he missed being sentenced to preventative detention by a whisker the last time around. He may not see outside of the prison yard for a long time.
http://www.safe-nz.org.nz/sxdb/murphywilliam.htm