Guilty of kidnapping in car death case

A man has been found guilty of assaulting and kidnapping his then 17-year-old girlfriend before she died in a crash on a Bay of Plenty road.

The jury took a little over two hours to find Jason Whero Anaru-Emery, 19, guilty on both charges following a week and a half trial in the High Court at Hamilton.

Anaru-Emery, from Maketu, was earlier charged with the manslaughter of Halayna Wagstaff, 17, but that charge was dismissed yesterday morning by Justice Sarah Katz based on the lack of evidence. Wagstaff died when the car the pair were in crashed into Waiari Bridge, and down a bank, on the outskirts of Te Puke on July 21, 2018.

The jury found Anaru-Emery had assaulted Wagstaff during an afternoon of drinking and smoking cannabis at his home in Paengaroa and later taken her against her will on the main street of Te Puke shortly before the car crashed. Anaru-Emery showed little emotion when the verdicts were read out in front of a gallery of Wagstaff’s family and his own family members.

Justice Sarah Katz stopped short of convicting Anaru-Emery at the request of defence counsel Rob Stevens who asked no convictions be entered until sentencing.

The kidnapping would normally be a strike offence but given Anaru-Emery was 17 at the time, he is not eligible for a strike warning, Katz said. She remanded Anaru-Emery to be sentenced in the Tauranga District Court on March 25.

In summarising the case, Justice Katz said it was the Crown’s job to prove Anaru-Emery was guilty.

She urged the jury not to be influenced by sympathy or prejudice.

Did Anaru-Emery grab Halayna Wagstaff, throw her around the bedroom and onto the bed?

‘‘Any one of these things done without consent would be assault.’’ When it came to the kidnapping charge, Justice Katz said the jury needed to decide whether Anaru-Emery took away or detained Wagstaff purposely. For the actions to amount to kidnapping they must be more than trifling. Anaru-Emery must have known Wagstaff did not consent to being taken, and having regard to that Anaru-Emery’s actions were unreasonable.