Self-defence an issue in stabbing death trial
A Lower Hutt man was stabbed in the chest in an exchange that lasted just minutes, a Wellington jury has been told.
Warren Leonard Pay, 52, pleaded not guilty to murdering Faapaia Fonoilaepa, 29, in Taita on September 14, 2018.
At the High Court in Wellington yesterday, he also pleaded not guilty to charges of having an imitation firearm and a knife, but guilty of having shotgun cartridges.
Pay’s lawyer says that the killing was unintentional or was self-defence, but the Crown says that at the critical point, Pay was not acting in defence of himself, or the force used was excessive.
Fonoilaepa had been drinking with friends at his home, where he lived with his partner and 10-year-old daughter. He and a friend set out to walk to a nearby liquor store on Lower Hutt’s High St, when they came across Pay.
Pay was wearing a butcher’s metal apron and had a homemade gun made from an industrial stapler.
Prosecutor Jamie O’Sullivan said a passing woman saw a man pull out a gun and point it at two other men. He said Pay tried to shoot the weapon but it failed to fire. An armourer who examined it later thought it was not capable of firing, so Pay was charged with having an imitation firearm.
Pay said the pair was lucky; he stepped back and pulled out a large knife. He was knocked to the ground, and Fonoilaepa pulled off Pay’s upper clothing and threw it to the ground.
Fonoilaepa fell back, stabbed between the ribs. His friend tried to get help for him but he died where he fell.
Pay was injured in the encounter, and was found later at a relative’s house in Napier.
His lawyer, Chris Tennet, said security camera footage showed that the incident lasted just over two minutes.
Pay was set upon by two men and stomped in what wasn’t a fight but an attack, Tennet said. During that time, Fonoilaepa died.
Tennet said Pay later told police he was in fear of his life. He did not intend to fatally stab Fonoilaepa, and was acting in self-defence.
Pay had previously suffered a head injury, and may have been concerned about his skull as he was being punched and stomped, Tennet said. Producing the knife bought him precious seconds when Fonoilaepa and the other man wanted to teach him a lesson for having pointed a gun.
He said the jury had to look at what happened through the eyes of Pay. Fonoilaepa and his friend were angry and drunk, and the friend was arrested that night for assaulting Pay.
The jury trial, which is before Justice Helen Cull, is expected to take about two weeks.