‘Stay with me’ — college sweethearts beat bullet
As her partner lay dying with a bullet lodged in his brain, Missy Parata made a promise.
‘‘I literally said to the universe that if they gave me him back, I would do anything to see him live his life again.’’
Moments before, Hemi Tahuri, 25, had told her to move to the back of the house after her jealous ex-boyfriend turned up at the couple’s home.
‘‘His regret is that he wished he knew the offender had a gun.’’
Tahuri, 25, was given a 1% chance of survival after the ex, Krishan Ranui DickKaritai, shot Tahuri between the eyes. The .22 bullet remains in his skull to this day.
She held Tahuri’s head in her lap as blood streamed from the bullet wound. The 40 minutes waiting for the ambulance to arrive at their Karitane, Otago, home on October 15 ‘‘felt like hours, days and months’’, she said.
Parata, 25, has stayed by her partner’s side since. She refused to believe he would die, pleading with him in intensive care to ‘‘stay with me’’ when doctors said he had hours to live.
It was when his hand reached out and rubbed her back, she knew everything would be OK.
The pair, who first met at Ashburton College in 2011, had what Parata called a ‘‘beautiful friendship’’, remaining close even when they were not in a relationship during those 10 years. Parata would massage his body every day, despite being told he was unlikely to walk again due to the brain injury. Tahuri defied those predictions and, in December, moved his legs. While his speech remains slurred, he can hold conversations and his memory has returned.
Parata left her Dunedin job as a youth justice worker to stay with family in Christchurch where he is being rehabilitated. The couple’s long-term goal is to get a house and ‘‘enjoy the world’’.
The shooting of Hemi Tahuri
‘‘It is clear from the medical records that Mr Tahuri narrowly avoided death,’’ Justice
Rachel Dunningham said in the High Court at Dunedin on Wednesday, as she jailed Dick-Karitai for six years and 11 months.
Dick-Karetai and Parata had a brief relationship when she and Tahuri separated in 2020.
When it ended, Dick-Karetai struggled to move on, threatening self-harm if Parata cut contact. If she ignored him he bombarded her with messages and calls.
Before the shooting, police had attended four call-outs involving DickKaretai, who was trespassed from the couple’s home and twice breached that order.
The morning of the shooting, DickKaretai sent Parata 35 abusive, jealousyfuelled messages and telephoned her 33 times. Dick-Karetai called her a further 26 times, before Parata responded telling to stop calling her.
Dick-Karetai then arrived at their home. Parata called police, who advised her to stay inside and lock the door. Tahuri talked to Dick-Karetai before going inside. Then Dick-Karetai approached with a .22.
He demanded Parata come outside. Tahuri said she would not. Dick-Karetai raised the gun and fired a single shot, hitting Tahuri in the forehead. Dick-Karetai fled but was arrested soon after. At the sentencing, Tahuri’s father said: ‘‘Our son proved to you what a real man should be – he took a bullet for his [partner].’’