Jury finds woman guilty of partner’s manslaughter
A woman’s claim that her partner fatally stabbed himself during a drunken argument between the pair has been rejected by a jury.
But the jury also determined that her stabbing him did not amount to murder.
Kia-ara Richardson, 23, was yesterday found guilty by a jury of the manslaughter of her partner Peter Hemi, 23, inside a car on McDonald St in Ashburton on November 8, 2019. She was found not guilty of his murder.
Hemi, a father of three children – a 7-year-old, a 5-year-old, and a 2-week-old baby he met for the first time just three days before his death – was found critically injured in a pool of blood and died shortly afterwards.
He suffered a single 12 to 15cm stab wound to the back of his neck. Richardson, who was sat behind him inside the car as they argued after being at a party, claimed he must have stabbed himself as she got out to cool down following the trading of drunken barbs.
The knife that inflicted the fatal wound on Hemi has never been found.
Richardson took the stand to defend herself during the trial, telling the jury that Hemi was a meth-addicted gang prospect with a temper, but that she loved and would never hurt him.
She became hostile at times as she was cross examined by the Crown.
“What you have been telling people about what happened that night is just lies,” Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae said.
“It is too hard for you to accept that you stabbed this person because you were so angry, and he was the only person who saw something in you. You reacted in anger and you intended to kill.”
“No”, Richardson replied, “my only intent was to calm him down and stop arguing”.
A 111 call in which a distressed Richardson told the call taker “I stabbed him in the f .... ing neck” was a key piece of evidence she could not deny, McRae said.
Richardson denied saying “I” and suggested she said something else, but couldn’t remember what.
“I did not do this, I was absolutely devastated when Peter died, he was the love of my life,” she told the jury during her evidence.
“I loved him with every single ounce of everything … he was like a god to me, I would never hurt him.”
Richardson said Hemi was a prospect for the Nomads gang. He was known by the nickname Blaze and was rarely called Peter by his friends.
She said Blaze and Peter were like two different people. Blaze was kind, compassionate and gentle, while Peter was unpredictable and would lash out and become violent.
Richardson suggested that Peter may have stabbed Blaze.
“That makes me sound a bit nuts, but, Peter had two parts to him ... I thought one of them two had done it. They, as in Peter and Blaze. It was just my first thought.”
The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for just over a day before delivering their verdict.
Richardson was remanded in custody by Justice Cameron Mander and will be sentenced in July.