Accused ‘enraged’ by parties
An Auckland man plunged a knife ‘‘beyond the hilt’’ into the throat of a man attending a noisy party at his neighbours, a High Court murder trial has heard.
Dustin La Mont, 25 when the the incident occurred, faces a murder charge for stabbing 24-year-old Nathan Pukeroa to death on a Mt Albert street on December 3 last year.
He is also charged with wounding Pukeroa’s friend Devaray-Junior Heremia ColeKurvajiwith intent to cause grievous bodily harm, after knifing him on the same night.
The Crown says La Mont knifed the men after becoming enraged by repeated noisy parties next door, but his defence team say he acted in self defence after being threatened with a beating.
At the start of the trial yesterday, Crown prosecutor Steve Haszard said La Mont lived next to a house where Pukeroa and Kurvaji were attending a party the night the stabbings took place.
He said La Mont had developed a ‘‘frustration and fixation with the neighbours’’. Noisy parties had turned La Mont’s frustration ‘‘into anger that led to murder’’.
La Mont had complained numerous times to to his landlord about the neighbours, and filmed videos of their goings-on from a nearby vantage point for evidence.
Haszard said La Mont’s agitated state of mind was evidenced on Twitter throughout his time living at Renton Rd. Earlier in the year he had tweeted ‘‘never have I been more provoked to go on a murdering rampage’’.
Just after midnight, Haszard said, La Mont left his house and peered down the driveway of his noisy neighbours, brandishing a knife. Cole-Kurvaji and Pukeroa, who were attending the party, came out and there was a confrontation between the men.
La Mont stabbed Pukeroa first, in the neck, severing his carotid artery.
Pukeroa bled to death on the road side. Cole-Kurvaji was stabbed seconds later, but survived as the blade missed his vital blood vessels.
Around a week later he confessed his actions to the police, Haszard said.
A jury made up of eight men and four women was selected during Tuesday’s hearing in front of Justice Rebecca Edwards.
The trial was expected to take three weeks. - Fairfax NZ