WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT
When an Auckland bus passenger kept her headphones in and declined to engage with an “increasingly more agitated” man who was sitting across from her, the man pulled a knife out of his bag and began stabbing her repeatedly in front of aghast commuters.
Details of the terrifying scene, along the Auckland Transport route 74 line in Onehunga, were made public for the first time today as murder defendant Kael Austin Leona pleaded guilty.
Leona, 38, had been scheduled to go to trial in the High Court at Auckland in less than two weeks. He’ll instead return to the court in May for sentencing.
Newly released court documents state Leona had met victim Bernice Marychurch for the first time about six hours before the October 23, 2024, killing.
They had met outside a Woolworths grocery store in Onehunga around 8.15am before boarding a bus together to Panmure, where they both went looking to purchase methamphetamine. When that effort was unsuccessful, they were able to find and consume methamphetamine in Point England, the agreed summary of facts states.
They then separated in Glen Innes before seeing each other again at the Panmure Bus Station that afternoon.
Both boarded the same Auckland Transport bus at 2.03pm, with Marychurch sitting down in the left rear corner of the bus and Leona following her, taking a seat in the right rear corner.
“During the bus ride, Mr Leona behaved in an agitated manner; continually rocking backwards and forwards, from left to right, and at times attempted to engage Ms Marychurch in conversation,” court documents state.
“For the majority of the ride, Ms Marychurch had her headphones on and was using her phone and did not respond to Mr Leona’s attempts to engage with her.”
The bus was driving along Church St in Onehunga, with eight other passengers on the bus, when Leona pulled a knife from his bag and slid across the seat to the victim.
“He stood up and knelt his left leg on the seat and began to stab Ms Marychurch in her upper body,” the agreed facts state, explaining that he then pulled her on to her side and stabbed her in the back before dragging her to his seat – continuing to stab in the meanwhile.
The attack continued as she fell to the floor of the bus. Leona slashed at her face and stabbed her numerous times in her stomach and torso.
“Passengers yelled at the bus driver to stop and open the doors, which he did,” documents state.
Some of the passengers fled in fear.
“At one point, Ms Marychurch attempted to defend herself by raising her knee to protect her body but Mr Leona pushed her knee aside and drove the knife into her stomach,” according to the agreed facts.
By the time Leona “finally stopped”, he had inflicted about 20 stab wounds – several of which involved him twisting the knife to inflict more lethal injuries. He then picked up his bag, “stepping over Ms Marychurch’s prone body”, and ran from the bus.
Once off the bus, he turned his focus to another passenger, following him for about 100 metres before the stranger was able to evade him.
Another bus passenger told the Herald in 2024 that others on the bus tried to help Marychurch as she died.
“Every chance possible, I held her hand, because I wanted her to know she was not alone,” the passenger said.
“Let it be known ... No one dies alone in New Zealand.”
Marychurch’s family described her at the time of the killing as a beautiful mum whose laugh will be missed, and who didn’t deserve what happened to her.
Leona also pleaded guilty today to strangling a family friend after forcing his way into her house.
After the stabbing, he went to a family address in Onehunga and tried to get a vehicle so he could visit his parents to say goodbye. When that was unsuccessful, he went to the nearby address of a family friend and began loudly knocking on the door.
When his second victim came to the door, he demanded her car keys and she refused. Leona then pulled the screen door off its frame and threw it as the resident retreated.
“Mr Leona responded by entering the dwelling and grabbing hold of [her] hair,” court documents state. “Mr Leona was too strong and threw [her] inside the house, causing her to hit her head on a chair and landing heavily on the floor.”
The woman screamed for help and Leona responded by covering her mouth and nose, telling her: “I will kill you.”
The woman managed to break free, and moments later Leona’s family arrived and convinced him to stop. He again left the scene.
Leona remained at large until the following day. He was tracked via CCTV in Mt Wellington that afternoon and in Auckland Central the next day. He went into an H&M store and stole a new set of clothes, leaving his old ones in the changing room, then stole a hooded sweatshirt from a tourist gift shop, documents state.
He then rode various buses before getting off at the Constellation Bus Station and turning himself in at the nearby North Shore Police Station.
In exchange for his murder and strangulation pleas today, prosecutors withdrew charges of burglary and threatening to kill.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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