‘I am going to burn the place down’: Warren and Mahoney employee’s threats started after meeting with HR over her attendance
The woman, who was 26 at the time of the incidents, appeared before Judge Rebecca Guthrie in the Waitakere District Court this week.
The woman, who is no longer employed by the company, has pleaded guilty to four charges of threatening behaviour.
The case has been adjourned until May, and she has been remanded on bail, while an updated psychological report is prepared.
The charges, laid under the Summary Offences Act, carry a maximum sentence of three months in prison, but her lawyer George Burns is seeking a discharge without conviction.
The woman has interim name suppression.
According to the agreed summary of facts, released to the Herald after an application to the court, the woman made the first threat on August 4, 2023, during an employment meeting with management regarding her attendance at work.
“During the meeting, the defendant made verbal threats towards the victim… where she said ‘right now you are coming for that. I will come for anyone who comes for me and my daughter. Anyone. I am psychotically motivated like that.”
According to the summary of facts, the verbal threats made the victim fear for her own safety “and the safety of the business”.
Just over two weeks later, on August 21, the woman arrived at the Warren and Mahoney offices in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter and spoke to one of the leaders. The summary of facts says she said: “Your whole leadership team will cry”, and “I know where you live”.
The leader feared for their own safety and that of his colleagues, according to the summary of facts.
“As a result of the threats, the company sent its staff of 150 people home for two days to ensure their safety. The offices now have a security guard posted full-time on their locked front door.”
Four days later, the woman was intercepted by security at the entrance. “The defendant asked staff if she could come inside.”
According to the summary of facts, she then told a receptionist: “I am going to burn the place down”.
The victim in that incident also feared for her safety and the safety of the business, the summary of facts says.
The next day, a woman went to the worker’s house to serve a trespass notice on her. The worker refused to open the door and spoke to the process server through an open window, according to the summary of facts.
“The defendant abused [the process server], yelling at her, ‘Get off my f***en property before I f***en kill you’.”
Warren and Mahoney is one of Australasia’s most renowned, award-winning architecture firms, with seven offices in New Zealand and Australia.
Its portfolio includes the Supreme Court building in Wellington, the Christchurch Town Hall rebuild, the Wynyard Quarter Innovation Precinct and Commercial Bay in central Auckland.
In an earlier statement, soon after the incidents occurred, a Warren and Mahoney spokesperson told the Herald: “Police were immediately made aware of the threats. Security measures were put in place, and our team members had the option of returning to the office later in the week.
“Support has been provided and is available to any of our team members, should any request it. We are advised that as the matter is before the courts, we cannot comment further.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.