Gavin Gosnell

Case record: Gavin Gosnell

Background

Gavin Gosnell was 28 at the time of sentencing and was accused of murdering Christchurch teenager Hayden Miles. The jury heard that Gosnell had inflicted a prolonged attack on Hayden Miles and used a saw to remove his limbs. The remains were not discovered until December 2011 at two cemeteries in Christchurch.

Gosnell had 60 previous criminal convictions and spent much of the last 14 years in jail for what the judge called mostly “low level violence”, including convictions for assault and domestic violence. Justice Chisholm said Gosnell had led a “difficult life”, having been estranged from his family.

Gosnell dismissed his lawyer and made his own statement, insisting that he was not a murderer and saying he wanted to appeal against his conviction. Outside court, Hayden Miles’ aunt, Sandy Ward, said no sentence would ever be enough for the inhumane way he died and that a life sentence should mean life in prison. Other family members said the sentence was appropriate, and Hayden’s father’s side of the family said they were satisfied with the term imposed.

The offence

Gosnell admitted attacking Hayden Miles at his Christchurch home. The attack was described at trial as a prolonged assault, during which Gosnell repeatedly beat Hayden before showering him and putting him on a couch in his flat.

The court heard that Gosnell cut Hayden into 12 pieces using a $20 jigsaw and dumped his remains in two city graveyards. Hayden’s organs were buried in the backyard.

Evidence at trial included accounts that Gosnell covered his tracks and hid Hayden’s remains. The remains were later found in two cemeteries in Christchurch.

Investigation

A High Court trial in Christchurch in April involved evidence including filmed police interviews with Gosnell in late 2011. The first video interview was on November 7, 2011, followed by a second interview on December 11, 2011.

Detective James Haigh questioned Gosnell about Hayden and his disappearance. Gosnell said he recalled meeting Hayden only twice. He said the first time was at a bus stop outside a supermarket. The second occasion was a few weeks later when Hayden had turned up drunk, and apparently beaten, at his flat.

Gosnell said he heard a noise one night after dark and went out to find Hayden by the garage. He described Hayden as being so intoxicated that he was slurring his words and could not explain what had happened. Gosnell said he had believed Hayden was gay, citing the way he flicked his head—demonstrating the way one would flick hair out of the eyes. After police officers told him Hayden had written love letters to Nicolette Vaux-Phillips, he assumed it was for “fessing up his love for Nicolette”.

Gosnell said Vaux-Phillips also thought Hayden was gay and had not received letters from him. Gosnell said: “I made a wrong decision that night and the following morning, and I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life. ” Gosnell told Haigh he invited Hayden inside the flat, helped him have a shower and put him on the couch to “crash”. Gosnell said Vaux-Phillips, Gosnell’s former girlfriend, was also there and they went to bed. The following morning, Hayden was gone, he said.

Gosnell said he was annoyed that he had to “clean up his mess” — blood on the couch, doorframe and light switch, “like he'd grabbed it”. He said there was not much blood but enough for someone to say, “What's going on here?” He was also annoyed that Hayden had left without thanking him for his help.

In Vaux-Phillips’ evidence, she said Gosnell told her that if police asked what happened to Hayden on the night he died, she was to say he turned up at the flat drunk and looking beaten, he slept on the couch and was gone the next day. If she told the truth, he told her she would “be with Hayden”.

Arrest

Gosnell’s trial included accounts of police and forensic evidence. Earlier in the court proceedings, it was told that Gosnell had blood on his hands and arms when friends arrived at his flat the morning after the attack. He told them he had “given someone a hiding” the previous night and found him dead on the couch, so he was “cutting him up and was going to bury him around Christchurch”.

Trial

Gosnell was accused of murdering 15-year-old Hayden Miles at Gosnell’s Cashel St flat on or about August 22, 2011. Gosnell’s defence was that Hayden’s death was manslaughter.

A juror began sobbing over grisly dismemberment evidence and the trial was halted on Friday. The jury later reached a guilty verdict for murder in April 2013, and Gosnell was found guilty by a jury of the murder of 15-year-old Hayden Miles.

Gosnell admitted killing Hayden after a prolonged assault at his Cashel St flat. He denied murderous intent and asked to be convicted of manslaughter. Gosnell denied murderous intent and asked to be convicted of manslaughter. Gosnell previously pleaded guilty to a charge of offering an indignity to a human body.

During trial, the court heard how Gosnell snapped when Hayden told him Gosnell’s then girlfriend, Nicolette Vaux-Phillips, was using him and didn’t like him. Vaux-Phillips witnessed the attack and was sentenced last year to 12 months of home detention after admitting being an accessory after the fact to culpable homicide.

Evidence came from Vaux-Phillips as well as from Hayden’s mother, Jacqueline Miles, police officers, forensic experts, and friends of Gosnell who saw the dead teen’s body the next day.

A family statement said afterwards: “We will never come to terms with the extreme violence and cruelty that Hayden suffered at Gavin's hands, nor the extreme disrespect he showed in dismembering and concealing his body,''

Hayden’s mother, Jacqueline Miles, suffered panic attacks and depression and was seeing a therapist. She said: “I'll never get to see Hayden grow up and become a man. I feel so robbed. My family is forever broken,"

She said she was tormented by visions of her son’s “gruesome and evil murder”, which had her vomiting every day with the thought of how he died: “No sentence could ever be enough to compensate for Hayden's death. We have to live with these images,"

Hayden’s 20-year-old sister Alecia told Gosnell: “[He will] always be a nobody, and will be forgotten”.

Hayden’s father Peter said he had been left “heartbroken” and living with an “indescribable pain”, and said: “I wish with all my heart I could have taken Hayden's place that night.”

During trial, a witness with name suppression described how Gosnell had panicked when found in relation to Hayden’s condition. The witness checked to see if Hayden was alive. The witness said: “[Miles] was covered in blood and had been smashed”.

The witness said Gosnell was told: “You need to tell [police] what you told me.”

Gosnell also told police he believed Hayden had romantic feelings for Vaux-Phillips and described Hayden as “a love rival”.

In another part of the trial, a former friend of Gosnell, who had name suppression, described Gosnell fantasizing about raping, torturing and killing people while watching television shows. The witness said Gosnell had fantasized, at first, about driving and picking someone off a highway who was hitch-hiking and bringing them back to the house to rape and torture them, and then chopping them up and burying them. The court was told the witness also said Gosnell wanted to target someone who was not going to be missed by their family “like a child in CYFS (Child, Youth and Family)”. The witness also said Gosnell fantasized about being in a “Bonnie and Clyde” type relationship.

Defence counsel Craig Ruane said the comments made by Gosnell were made when he was watching television shows like Criminal Minds, and were just a critique of what they were doing. Ruane said: “He carried out the long assault but he didn't intend to kill him.”

Defence counsel Craig Ruane said Gosnell’s approach was a brutal assault that “went too far”.

Sentencing

On June 5, 2013, Gosnell was sentenced at the High Court in Christchurch to life imprisonment with a minimum of 18 years in jail.

Justice Chisholm said: “It is difficult to believe that there are people amongst us capable of such a macabre and evil deed.”

Justice Chisholm said Gosnell set out to be cruel and described the attack as extreme brutality. Justice Chisholm said Gosnell committed “extreme brutality, repeated over and over”, with a total absence of mercy and stated: “You set out to be cruel. These were the actions of a bully in the ultimate extreme,”

Justice Chisholm highlighted the impact of the desecration of Hayden’s body and said: “The desecration of Hayden's body was "quite beyond belief",

Gosnell wanted to sack his defence counsel Craig Ruane and wanted to adjourn sentencing so he could appeal his conviction. Justice Chisholm said it was his right to do so, but appointed Mr Ruane as an amicus to help the court continue with today’s sentencing.

Gosnell told the High Court that he would be appealing his conviction. Gosnell said: “I'm not a murderer and I didn't murder Hayden Miles,”

Gosnell also said: ”

Gosnell said: “I'm disgusted in myself for desecrating his body.”

Outside court, Sandy Ward said the family’s view that life should mean life in prison: “But no sentence would ever be enough for the inhumane, disturbing and cruel way in which Hayden's life was taken by the murderer. ” “We are really thankful the judge has given as much as he can, but we believe that life should mean life in prison. ” “Our family can now concentrate on rebuilding our shattered lives to some sort of normality and focus on the loving memories we have of our Hayden.”

Andrew Riches said: “The family are quite relieved that the judge took the time to take into account the callousness in which Hayden was treated. In particular, they feel that an 18-year non-parole period is quite appropriate. “They're extremely relieved that this is now the end of the process and that they can rest assured that Gavin's not going to have any ability to harm another person for quite some time to come.”

Appeals

Gosnell vowed to appeal his conviction after sentencing. He insisted during sentencing that he was not a murderer and said he would be appealing his conviction.

Outcome

The jury returned a guilty verdict for murder in April 2013.

Gosnell was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 18 years in jail on June 5, 2013.

Aftermath

The Miles family described the process and their ongoing distress. Jacqueline Miles told the court it had “been 652 days since grieving mum Jacqui Miles last saw her son” and said she had been “living a nightmare that I can't wake up from”.

Sandy Ward said: ”

Hayden’s father Peter said he lived with “indescribable pain” and wished he could have taken Hayden’s place that night.

The family found media coverage of the murder inquiry and trial “extremely sensational and distressing” and criticised the justice system for the pressures it put on them.

Other details

Gosnell’s trial involved public gallery attendance including Miles family members and friends and some of the jurors. The court heard that the trial was emotionally difficult for the jury and for the Miles family.

Two women, who had interim name suppression, and lived together in New Brighton with a man at the time Hayden died, gave evidence by video link. One woman said she saw Gosnell allegedly assault and rob a boy outside the Eastgate Shopping Centre on August 22. She said Gosnell punched the boy once and took a cask of wine, the boy’s cellphone and iPod. She said Gosnell and Nicolette Vaux-Phillips were in the mall car park at the time and joined her and the male flatmate in the car after the alleged robbery. She said Gosnell was “not impressed” and asked for the boy’s belongings back. She said he was given the cellphone and that the court heard the boy was Hayden.

The following morning, the three flatmates returned to Eastgate for breakfast about 11.15am, then drove to Gosnell’s flat. Finding the door locked, one woman went around the side of the flat. She found the broken lounge window tied shut, with the curtains drawn. The other woman said Gosnell came out the front door after she and the man had been “calling out” for up to five minutes. She noticed a “black plastic thing” on the floor inside the flat as he came out and shut the door behind him. She said Gosnell was topless and had blood on his hands and arms and that she could hear a consistent and loud noise similar to that of a vacuum cleaner but could not be sure what it was. She said Gosnell told them: “[Gosnell] said he had a fight and someone was dead on his couch,” and also: “He said he was cutting him up; that he was cutting him up and was going to bury him around Christchurch.”

She said she “freaked out”. The court heard Gosnell told them he did not want them involved. She said the three drove home. Defence counsel Craig Ruane asked if she stood by an earlier statement to police where she said: “[Gosnell] said he had given someone a hiding the previous night and he woke up in the morning and found the person on the couch dead.” She said she did. Ruane asked whether Gosnell appeared to be “boasting or proud of what he had done” and she said: “No, he wasn't.” She said Gosnell appeared upset and that “It just wasn't him”.

A man accused of robbing Hayden was before the courts and had name suppression.