WHEN Cherie Gillatt heard about her daughter’s new colleague Paul Tainui, alarm bells rang immediately.
Nicole Tuxford reassured her mum that everyone deserved a second chance, no matter what had happened in their past.
But Cherie couldn’t shake the fact that Tainui was a killer.
“Nicole told me the new guy at work had murdered someone, claiming he’d blacked out and didn’t remember it afterwards,” Cherie, from New Zealand , says.
“I was shocked and I warned her to be careful but she assured me that people changed.
“After all I had always drummed that into her and her three siblings growing up and I was proud of the kind, compassionate , independent young woman she’d become.”
But Cherie had a right to be worried about Tainui as, despite her daughter’s compassion, he broke into her home and brutally murdered her.
He beat and raped Nicole before cutting her throat in an attack that bore similarities to his previous murder of Kimberley Schroder in 1994.
Following Nicole’s murder, Tainui got life with a non- parole period of 28 years
“My world has been shattered,” Cherie says.
“After raping, murdering and almost decapitating two young women, he still wasn’t given a whole- life sentence ,” Cherie says.
“What do you have to do for the key to be thrown away?”
Nicole was 23 when she got an admin job at a scrap yard – though her dream had always been to help people.
A few years later, she began a life coach and counselling course which is when she met Tainui who was in his fifties.
“She told me that she felt sorry for him and was helping him with counselling,” Cherie says.
Nicole had known Tainui for just over a year when she left the yard in February 2018 for another job and to focus on her blossoming coaching business.
On Friday April 6th, Cherie had her usual catch up with her daughter who was staying at her boyfriend’s house.
The following evening, Cherie’s world was turned upside down.
“I was watching a movie when two cops turned up with my youngest daughter,” she says.
“She told me that Nicole had been murdered, I burst into tears, I was totally shellshocked.
“Who’d want to hurt my Nicole?”
The police revealed that Nicole had been strangled and that Paul Tainui had been arrested.
The 27-year-old’s coffin was taken to Cherie’s home so that friends and family could pay their respects.
“I noticed a bruise on her face and I was so bewildered by what had happened I tried rubbing the bruise away,” Cherie recalls.
“There were defensive wounds on her hands, I sat holding them, weeping, telling her I loved her.
“For the viewing I wanted to put a pretty pink sparkly scarf around Nicole’s neck.
“As I lifted her head I felt lumps on the back, the result of the beating she’d suffered and moving her head, I noticed her throat had been cut.
“In fact, he’d almost decapitated her.”
Nicole’s family were floored by grief as they endured her funeral and cremation in the weeks that followed.
But Cherie was to be dealt yet another blow.
“The police told me Nicole had been raped too,” she says.
“My sweet, kind girl, who just wanted to help others, had suffered so much.”
Tainui had killed before and his previous victim couldn’t be publicly named to make sure he got a fair trial.
She was a beautiful, kind and funny young woman in the prime of her life
Cherie Gillatt
But the police were able to tell Cherie about the case.
Her name was Kimberly Schroder and she’d dated Tainui, then known as Paul Wilson, before breaking up with him.
He was sentenced to ten months in prison for threatening her with a shotgun, then, in 1994, he broke into Kimberly’s home and ambushed her when she got in.
Tainui beat Kimberly, 24, tortured and raped her, before cutting her throat He was sentenced to 15 years, reduced to 13 on appeal.
In January 2011, after serving over 16 years, he’d been released at his fifth parole attempt.
The Parole Board deemed him low risk of re-offending because he’d had almost 300 sessions with prison psychiatrists and psychologists who said he was not a psychopath.
On release, he changed his surname from Wilson to Tainui.
The police got Kimberly’s mum Nancy and Cherie together.
Tragically, Kimberly’s dad Gary, had killed himself just three days after Nicole’s murder.
“Nancy told me that I shouldn’t be going through this and how she and Gary had repeatedly told the parole board he would kill again,” Cherie says.
“Nicole’s murder had been the final straw for poor Gary.”
In October 2018 Tainui admitted raping and murdering Nicole but he still couldn’t be identified to the public.
Police revealed on the night before Nicole’s murder they’d stopped Tainui for drink driving.
He had two knives in his car. Their roadside checks showed he was a convicted killer but they kept the car and knives and let him go.
He took a taxi to Nicole’s, broke in, waited eight hours until she got home Saturday morning and ambushed her.
In March 2019 Cherie was at his sentence hearing.
“I learned Nicole had befriended and counselled him,” she says.
“It wasn’t clear how much she knew about his past, but it was just like her to want to help.
“Despite being twice Nicole’s age, Tainui had been obsessed with my daughter.
“He’d turn up at Nicole’s home, saying he was passing or dropping something off.
“His boss even disciplined him for harassing her.
“When Nicole rebuffed Tainui’s advances and he discovered she had a boyfriend he was furious.
“Days before the murder he sent her an angry text saying she’d betrayed him.
“She was a beautiful, kind and funny young woman in the prime of her life.
“He’d been in jail and was twice her age. The only relationship was in his head.”
Cherie heard that when Nicole arrived home on the morning of April 7th Tainui dragged her into a bedroom.
Nicole had fought him but he bound her before sexually assaulting her and finally stabbing her in the shoulder with a large knife, before strangling her and cutting her throat multiple times.
“I read a victim impact statement where I called him a worthless coward,” Cherie says.
“He couldn’t even look at me.”
Domestic abuse - how to get help
DOMESTIC abuse can affect anyone - including men - and does not always involve physical violence.
Here are some signs that you could be in an abusive relationship:
- Emotional abuse – Including being belittled, blamed for the abuse – gaslighting – being isolated from family and friends, having no control over your finances, what you where and who you speak to
- Threats and intimidation – Some partners might threaten to kill or hurt you, destroy your belongings, stalk or harass you
- Physical abuse – This can range from slapping or hitting to being shoved over, choked or bitten.
- Sexual abuse – Being touched in a way you do not want to be touched, hurt during sex, pressured into sex or forced to have sex when you do not consent.
If any of the above apply to you or a friend, you can call these numbers:
- The Freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge on 0808 2000 247 for free at any time, day or night
- Men who are being abused can call Respect Men’s Advice Line on 0808 8010 327 or ManKind on 0182 3334 244
- Those who identify as LGBT+ can ring Galop on 0800 999 5428
- If you are in immediate danger or fear for your life, always ring 999
Remember, you are not alone.
1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men will experience domestic abuse over the course of their lifetime.
Every 30 seconds the police receive a call for help relating to domestic abuse.
Addressing him, Judge Cameron Mander, said, “She sought to help you when few others would. It must have been a terrifying ordeal as she fought for her life.”
Tainui got life with a non-parole period of 28 years. He was 55, meaning he’d be over 83 on release.
The Parole Board released a review of their dealings with Tainui, claiming all their decisions were reasonable.
“Even today an expert would not forecast further violent offending based on the information known to the Board,” they announced.
Cherie campaigned for more answers.
In October 2020 the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s review said it was reasonable for officers to have released Tainui after catching him drink driving, even with his previous convictions.
Two years later, an inquest opened into Nicole and Gary’s deaths.
“I turned up with Nicole’s ashes in an urn,” Cherie says.
“More failings emerged.
“Three years before killing Nicole, Tainui boasted in a pub about murdering Kimberly and tried to give people drugs.
“A witness contacted the police and his parole could have been revoked, but the complaint wasn’t followed up.”
In my opinion, they’ve all got blood on their hands
Cherie Gillatt
While on parole Tainui was also convicted of ten driving offences, including careless driving causing injury. Probation staff only knew about six.
When he got a job at the scrap yard Corrections told his boss he was a killer, but didn’t mention his previous convictions of sexual assault.
A probation officer claimed he’d told Tainui’s boss details of his crimes and his heightened risk in personal relationships with women.
The officer also said he’d told Tainui’s boss to get in touch if there were issues with Tainui’s conduct.
But he didn’t make notes of this, and Tainui’s boss said the conversation never happened.
Tainui appeared at the inquest and confessed he’d repeatedly lied to probation staff, telling them he was coping.
In September 2024 the Coroner delivered his findings.
He said the psychopath test Tainui passed needed improvement, as did monitoring of paroled offenders.
And he found the “breakdown” in that process contributed to Nicole’s death and therefore Gary’s.
No individuals from Corrections, the Police or Parole Board were blamed.
“Nancy and Gary knew Tainui would kill again,” Cherie says.
“The experts had blinkers on.
“Nobody has lost their job and nobody from the courts, Corrections, the Police or Parole Board has officially apologised to me.
“In my opinion, they’ve all got blood on their hands.”
