A man choked to death by his neighbour contacted mental health services with concerns about him about a week before his death. 

Timothy David Buchanan, 34, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had been subject to a community treatment order since 2009. 

On January 14 this year, he attacked his 68-year-old neighbour, Colin Blithe, in their shared accommodation in central Napier, putting him in a choke hold on and off for about 15 minutes. 

When he released the hold, Blithe started to regain consciousness. Buchanan then reapplied the choke hold until his victim died. 

Blithe has been described by family and friends as a kind and loving man and a “good mate with a good heart”. 

After killing Blithe, Buchanan took a painting off his victim’s wall and hung it in his own room. He also tried unsuccessfully to use the dead man’s bank card at an ATM. 

Buchanan was charged with murder. 

After receiving medical reports, High Court Justice Cheryl Gwyn found the act proven, but Buchanan not guilty on the grounds of insanity. 

In the High Court at Napier on Tuesday she ordered Buchanan, who appeared in court via video link from a clinical facility, detained as a special patient under the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act. 

A Crown summary of facts said Blithe made contact with the Hawke’s Bay Mental Health Team about a week before he died. They visited Buchanan his flat. 

On the day before the killing, a doctor assessed Buchanan and found that he was “more psychotic than baseline”, refusing medication, and would benefit from being admitted to residential care. 

However, there were no beds available at the Mental Health Inpatient Unit.

Blithe’s body was found on January 15 after two friends from the nearby Bay City Club, where he was a long-term member and had previously served as vice president, went looking for him. 

His friends had not seen him for a couple of days and had become concerned for his welfare. 

Bay City Club president Blu Corlett later described Blithe as a “good mate to everyone here that knew him, with a good heart and a good soul”. 

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.