Charges ‘insulting’, court told

A man accused of cutting the throat of a pregnant woman and using a hammer to smash the elbow of another woman says the allegations are insulting.

Ruka Te Pono Hemopo, also known as Duane Makatea, 48, was shot and tasered when police burst into a room at a Porirua house on May 2 last year.

Crown prosecutor Grant Burston told a jury in the High Court at Wellington yesterday that Hemopo had a knife in his hand and was going to stab a woman when he was shot.

But Hemopo, who is defending himself at his trial, denied that.

‘‘I have always said I was not attacking anyone, I didn’t have the knife in my hand and therefore I say all the charges should be dropped,’’ Hemopo said. He had his hand up to stop himself from falling on the woman on the floor. ‘‘I wasn’t trying to stab her.’’ Hemopo has pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The identities of the women and some evidence were suppressed.

Hemopo made his final address to the jury of eight women and four men.

He said he had been painted as a woman beater and a baby killer who attacked women with a knife. He had not done that even with a man and the allegation was just insulting, he told the jury.

He said he had been in jail waiting for his trial for 15 months.

The two women had been drinking and one of them had a history of getting angry when she had been drinking, he said.

The trial is continuing.