The court heard homicide victim Finauga Faatoia was into body building and had trained in martial arts.
An Auckland actor fatally stabbed in the jugular during a soured tenancy dispute suspected two troublesome boarders at his landlord’s rental had Head Hunters connections, a court has heard.
So he agreed to help the landlord, telling her he had contacts who could confirm potential gang links, including a police friend who owed him a “favour”.
The actor, Finauga “Lee” Faatoia, 40, died on August 31 last year after bursting into the couple’s Mt Wellington townhouse in full military-style fatigues and armed with a Bear Grylls “survival knife” in a bungled attempt to force the couple from their rented home.
A man in the house grabbed a knife of his own and stabbed Faatoia in the neck before the couple dragged him on to a patio, where Faatoia was repeatedly stabbed about the body, and stomped and kicked about the face and head.
The woman is said to have incited the violence by yelling, “Get him! Get him!”
The couple, who are on trial this week in the High Court at Auckland charged with murder, claim they were attacked by Faatoia and only acted in self-defence.
Property manager Rebecca Allcock was called to give evidence yesterday on day two of the trial.
The Crown had earlier alleged Allcock wanted the couple out of the property because of noise issues and rent arrears, and that she’d hired Faatoia to visit the property and “rough them up”.
She told the court she had been a property manager since about 2016. Her business model involved leasing multiple properties across Auckland as a “sub-landlord” and then subleasing individual rooms to flatmates.
She said she had about 100 tenants.
The property where Faatoia died, in Tomuri Place, was managed by LJ Hooker on behalf of the owner. Allcock’s company marketed the homes, found flatmates and drew up tenancy agreements for each room.
The court heard the couple had been living in the new build townhouse for several months but had not paid any rent.
Allcock said they were “aggressive” and “high on drugs”. She believed they were consuming methamphetamine.
The couple would regularly lock the main door, restricting access to other flatmates, and often checked security cameras. She suspected people wanted to “get” them.
Other flatmates were afraid of the couple and wanted to leave, Allcock said.
“You are not paying your rent,” Allcock messaged the woman.
“I’m calling Tenancy Services to find out how to evict you fast.”
The woman replied: “I paid a bond you lying b***h. Give it back and then I’ll think about leaving you weird ass c***. Until then f*** yourself.”
Allcock’s partner served a trespass order on the couple about 10 days before the killing and was allegedly chased from the scene by the man.
Recorded phone calls were played to the jury of Allcock asking police to visit the property because of alleged threats and drug use.
But when police refused to take action, telling Allcock it was a civil dispute, she contacted Faatoia – another one of her tenants who had helped resolve flatmate disputes in the past.
“I need your help,” she wrote.
They met and Faatoia suggested he would move into the property posing as a flatmate and look for evidence of drug use.
He asked her for photos of the couple and identification documents.
He told Allcock he believed the couple were connected to the Head Hunters gang and said he had a “contact” who could confirm.
“He said he had a police friend who owed him a favour.”
Under questioning from Crown prosecutor Clare Paterson, Allcock said the plan had only been for Faatoia to conduct surveillance on the couple.
“We didn’t discuss anything unlawful or violent.”
The court was read messages in which Faatoia told Allcock, “Just a warning, I may have to rough them up to get them out.”
She replied, “I’m fine with that.”
But Allcock told the court she didn’t expect Faatoia to turn up armed with a knife.
“I swear it was more of an intimidation-type thing if they got aggressive. I didn’t anticipate it would be anything more than that.”
The court earlier heard that Faatoia told his wife, Sarah, he stood to make a “significant amount of money” from the job.
Allcock said while it was implicit she would pay Faatoia for his services – as she had for other odd jobs he’d performed in the past – they “didn’t discuss a rate”.
“I did ask him, but he said, ‘Don’t worry about it for now.’”
She was also adamant she didn’t ask Faatoia to evict the couple, only to gather intel about what they were doing.
“I didn’t say, ‘You have to throw them out’. I know they were very unsettling, and people were afraid of them, so [the couple moving out] would be great. But not by unlawful means.”
Defence lawyer Julie-Anne Kincade, KC, began her cross-examination by attacking Allcock’s credibility.
“You’ve told lies today under oath to this jury.”
Allcock replied that she hadn’t.
“Do you accept that you regularly lie to people to get your own way?” Kincade asked.
Allcock also denied this suggestion.
Kincade produced a 2024 Herald story which reported that Allcock had been fined $14,000 by the Tenancy Tribunal for breaching the Residential Tenancies Act, including failure to lodge bonds.
Kincade said the finding came with a three-year “restraining order”, meaning Allcock could face a further $3600 penalty if she breached tenancy rules again.
Kincade also suggested police found evidence that Allcock never lodged the couple’s bond for Tomuri Place.
Allcock disputed this, saying, “I’d like that looked into further.”
The trial continues before Justice James MacGillivray.
Lane Nichols is the Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
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