A Northland man has been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend's father. A High Court jury took more than five hours to deliberate its verdict yesterday in the trial of Matiu Tane Kopa, 45, of Otaua, 17km southwest of Kaikohe.
Kopa and his partner, Tracey Anne Lewis, were initially jointly accusedof killing Norman James Lewis, 81, in his Tawanui Rd flat on November 14, 2007. Ms Lewis was found not guilty by the High Court of murdering Mr Lewis - her father - by reason of insanity. Kopa's defence had contended that he stabbed Mr Lewis twice in the back, but that Mr Lewis was already dead. Kopa had stabbed him only after Ms Lewis forced a knife into his hands, the defence said. Kopa had also said he feared he would be stabbed by Ms Lewis if he didn't knife Mr Lewis.
Justice Rodney Hansen had earlier told the jury that Crown and defence pathologists had differed over whether Mr Lewis was alive when the knife wounds were inflicted and it was up to the jury to decide which, if either, version to accept. Yesterday, the judge sent the jury out to consider its verdict at 11.28am after summing up the case for two hours. The jury returned at 4.45pm. In his summing up, Justice Hansen said
the Crown had to prove its case against Kopa beyond reasonable doubt, while the defence did not have to prove anything. Justice Hansen said the Crown case was largely circumstantial and asked the jury to take inferences from the evidence it presented. He said the Crown case was that Kopu was either a principal offender in the murder or a party to the murder. "In effect, the Crown is inviting you to reconstruct what took placed at Norman Lewis' flat that morning, based on a range of circumstances, together with some reliance on what was said [by Kopa] afterwards," he said. The judge told jury members the Crown said Kopa had hated Mr Lewis because of problems he was causing with his relationship with Ms Lewis. "The Crown says [Kopu] was ready and willing to harm Norman Lewis and at the very least assisted Ms Lewis in the endeavour." Justice Hansen said the defence case was that Kopu had accompanied Ms Lewis to her father's flat for a talk and that Ms Lewis had attacked her father unexpectedly.
