Man denies murdering wife with knife

Press, 24 May 1977, Page 4

Man denies murdering wife with knife

When a young married woman returned home after being away for a couple of days, and told her husband that she was leaving him, (and began packing, he be-i came so angry that hej knocked her to the floor,' , kicked her in the face, and . then stabbed her to death,! Mr Justice Roper and a jury! were told in the Supreme; Court yesterday. Lapana Leo Tauinaai, aged| 29, a presser, has pleaded not guilty to a charge ofj murdering his wife, Eseta; jUesele Tauinaai, aged 28, at; I their home in Woolston on; January 6. The trial is expected to! finish today. The Crown is. icalling 19 witnesses. i Messrs N. W. Williamson! and D. J. Fitzgerald appear > for the Crown, and Messrs, !K. N. Hampton and N. R.| ■W. Davidson for the ac-l icused. Opening his case, Mr Williamson said that Mrs (Tauinaai arrived at her I home in Cob Crescent just (before midnight on January 6, in a taxi. Soon after she went inside the neighbours heard her start to scream, and heard her shout: “No, ino, no.” The neighbours looked; l through a bedroom window, 1 [and saw the accused; .crouched over his wife, with' j his arm in the air above her J The police were called and, arrived a few minutes later.! They found the woman dead; on the floor of the bedroom. She had three very serious stab wounds to her neck and chest as well as other

I,wounds. The accused and his ■ five-year-old son were gone. It was discovered later 1 that Tauinaai had taken his . son to a house around the • I corner, had arranged with a > woman to send him to his . aunt, and had then left. It was not until four days ,1 later, on January 10, that ■ithe accused was found — : | hiding in bushes near Hargood Street. He had a carliving knife with him. I; He told the police that he (had argued with his wife because she had not come : home the night before, i J When she told him “she I wanted to go out and have a Jgood time,” he went mad . and hit her in the face with jhis fist. She fell to the floor II and then he kicked her in ■ the face. He went into the .kitchen, grabbed a knife and .(killed her by stabbing her. The Crown’s case is that this is a straight-forward • crime of murder, brought about by the accused’s • jealousy and anger. Murder : is a most serious crime. A ■ young woman is dead, and : the accused is responsible,” ; said Mr Williamson. In a written statement, , made to Inspector Phillip (Stanley Seaman, the accused I (said that when his wife ar.irived home she went I; straight into the bedroom, (“without saying hello .lor anything.” He followed I,her into the bedroom and J found her packing. When he liasked her where she had .(been she did not say anything. She told him then I (that she was leaving him. ■' His wife told him that she

had been out on Wednesday night with Joan, and he did not know who Joan was. He asked her why she did that, and she said she wanted to go out and have a good time. “That was when I went mad, and hit her in the face with my fist,” said the statement. “She fell on the floor and said: ‘Kill me, I don’t want to live,’ and that is when I kicked her in the face with my shoes. I don’t know how many times I kicked her; I was that mad. “Then I just' ran through to the kitchen and grabbed a knife out of the sink. I came back and killed her. She was still lying on the floor when I got’ back to the bedroom and that was when I stuck the knife in her, about three times. I was very mad,” said Mr Williamson, reading from the statement. Leone Stowers, a process worker, said that about 2 p.m. on January 5 she and the deceased took a taxi to the Hornby Trust Hotel. When the hotel closed they went to a party in a hotel staff house occupied by Mr Lou Leota. The deceased did not drink during the evening at the hotel, said the witness. The party in the staff house went on until about 5 a.m. She and the deceased slept in one room, and Mrs Leota in another. "‘‘’ey got up about 11 a.m. and after the boys went to work they tidied up the place and played cards. Mr

Leota brought them an evening meal. About 8 p.m. they went to the hotel, and stayed there until closing time. They had soft drinks. Before midnight a group took a taxi back to the city, and the deceased was left at her house. To Mr Hampton, witness said she was not known as Joan, but sometimes as Pupu. Witness was not married but she knew the de-[ ceased was. She did not know if Mr Leota and deceased were very fond of one another, however, they had been cuddling at the party. She had not met Mr Leota before, but had seen him in wrestling on television. He worked at the Hornby Trust Hotel as a barman, she said.