‘Innocuous incident’ led to killing
A teenager accused of killing a father of two in Hawke’s Bay had been upset over an ‘‘innocuous and simple’’ incident and responded with a sustained attack.
Johnnie Puna, 19, is on trial before Justice Helen Cull, QC, at the High Court in Napier.
He’s charged with the murder of Mark Beale, who was found critically injured near the Tukituki river mouth in the seaside settlement of Haumoana about 7am on Monday, February 6.
Beale, 45, was taken to Hawke’s Bay Hospital, but later died of his injuries.
Opening the trial yesterday, Crown prosecutor Steve Manning told the jury Beale had died of significant head injuries resulting from a series of kicks and punches by Puna.
He said the jury would need to decided whether Puna had ‘‘mur- derous intent’’ when he inflicted the blows, and was therefore guilty of murder.
Manning said Puna chose to attack Beale for an ‘‘innocuous and simple reason’’ – Beale accidentally fell over and pulled Puna to the ground causing him a minor injury to his lip.
‘‘As a consequence of that, Puna lost his temper and over a considerable period of time meted out the blows that killed Beale.’’
He said Puna and Beale had only met a couple of hours beforehand
Beale, who was described by Manning as an eccentric, ‘‘a bit of a loner’’ and an alcoholic, lived alone on Haumoana’s Grange Rd. He would often go fishing and would regularly talk to others as they fished in the area.
Manning said the jury would hear from Puna’s uncle and cousin who were with him on the night the assault occurred.
He said the trio had been out at the river mouth earlier in the day, and had returned later to drink and socialise.
In the evening, they bought boxes of bourbon and cola, drove to Haumoana, and parked in Grange Rd – just a few metres from Beale’s driveway.
Beale, who had also been drinking, met the group and joined their gathering. At some point, he returned to his home with Puna to get more alcohol. The pair stayed there for a short time before returning to the river.
‘‘It seems Mr Beale has tripped accidentally. To break his fall, he has reached out and held on to Mr Puna. This has caused Mr Puna to fall and for his face to hit the ground and cut his lip,’’ Manning said.
Puna expressed ‘‘real anger’’ toward Beale and began a series of assaults that lasted 30 to 40 minutes. He did this when his uncle was not present, although his cousin witnessed the assault.
Puna delivered a ‘‘number of full force kicks’’ to Beale’s head. Beale lost consciousness several times. Whenever he regained consciousness, Puna would kick him again, the prosecutor explained.
The cousin told police that each time Beale tried to get up Puna would kick him in the head again, Manning said.
Puna and his uncle and cousin returned to the car, leaving Beale lying on the river bank.
At the time of the assault, there had been another group of people in the area. They saw Puna’s group and noticed Beale on the ground. They asked of his condition and were told by Puna that Beale was just drunk.
Members of that group stayed the night nearby and found Beale the next morning.
Police were able to establish that Puna had been at the scene and recovered the shoes he was wearing at the time. These were found to have Beale’s blood on them, Manning said.
Puna was arrested on February 24 and charged with murder. He has pleaded guilty to stealing Beale’s cellphone and vaping device.
Puna’s lawyer, Eric Forster, told the jury it was not disputed that Puna caused the injuries to Beale but he did not intend to kill him. ‘‘It never crossed his mind’’ that he might die.
Forster said Puna would claim that Beale had claimed Puna had consumed too much of Beale’s home-brew vodka, and had shoved him down a bank. He said Beale fell on top of him and a fight ensued.
The trial is expected to run for a week. The Crown intends to call 16 witnesses.