Witness recalls details of seeing woman run over

A Northland man recalled harrowing details of seeing a car run over a woman with such force she sat up under the vehicle and got dragged as her father tried to pull her off the road.

Hohepa Fletcher told a jury in the High Court at Whangarei yesterday he saw from inside his house a man and woman arguing as she walked on the footpath, and he followed her in his car along Pukepoto Rd in Kaitaia on the night of August 20, 2013.

He gave evidence as a Crown witness in the trial of Viliami Fungavaka who is facing a charge of murdering his partner and mother of two, Georgina Manuel, by running her over twice with his Holden Commodore.

Fungavaka, 47, has denied the charge and said what happened was an accident.

Mr Fletcher, who lived on Pukepoto Rd at the time Ms Manuel was run over, said he recognised Fungavaka and his vehicle when he saw the couple arguing.

He first met Fungavaka at Karikari Peninsula but did not know Ms Manuel and her father George who was walking home on the other side of Pukepoto Rd that night.

Mr Fletcher said he saw Ms Manuel walk in front of the car, give Fungavaka the finger, and swear at him as she wanted to go home with her father.

He then saw the car's brake lights go off before the vehicle hit her.

Ms Manuel flew on the car's roof, somersaulted, and landed on the road before her legs were dragged by the back wheels of the car as it was being driven away, he recalled.

Mr Fletcher said the car then did a u-turn at a t-intersection, revved up the engine, before being driven at Ms Manuel again.

After the first hit, he said Mr Manuel held on to her legs and tried to pull his daughter off the road but had to jump out of the way when the car came back for the second hit.

The car's headlights were on during both hits, he said.

The second time Ms Manuel was run over, Mr Fletcher said he saw the car go up, she sat up under the vehicle, and the back of its gearbox hit her before she was dragged again.

"That was how much force she was hit with. The car then bounced on the left side and lost control a bit before it started to come towards my house, but then it corrected itself and drove into the next street," Mr Fletcher said.

Mr Fletcher ran to his sister's house nearby to ring 111. A recording of the emergency call was played to the jury.