Jurors saw video of Joeli "Skunks" Rankin’s final moments as he approached a Mt Albert home with a machete. Chrishan Raju admits stabbing him but claims self-defence.
Newly released video shows the chaotic final minutes of an Auckland man’s life before he was stabbed to death inside an Auckland Kāinga Ora flat.
The footage - taken from a mobile phone belonging to the man’s girlfriend - was played for jurors in the High Court at Auckland thisweek during the murder trial of Chrishan Raju.
It was released today at the request of the Herald and Stuff, which have been covering the trial.
Raju’s trial began on Monday with the admission that he killed Joeli “Skunks” Rankin during a violent confrontation inside Raju’s Mt Albert home in February 2024. But the killing was in self-defence, and therefore not illegal, his lawyer has insisted.
Video of Rankin’s loud and intimidating arrival showed him shouting out slurs as he walked down a pathway to the home before shattering the window to Raju’s bedroom and trying to kick in the front door.
“Raju, where the f*** are you? Where is this c***?” he could be heard yelling. “Chris, you little b***h, come out!”
Chrishan Raju in the High Court at Auckland. Defence lawyer Jasper Rhodes (foreground) has suggested his client fatally stabbed Joeli Rankin in self-defence inside a Mt Albert Kāinga Ora flat on February 26, 2024. Photo / Michael Craig
Rankin had been called to the home by Raju’s partner, Georgina Hellawell, who testified this week that Raju wouldn’t let her leave with her two children after she decided to break up with him. The defence disputes the assertion.
Rankin, a longtime friend of Hellawell’s, showed up at the property with his own partner and a rusted machete. Hellawell said he brought the weapon along only after she warned him that Raju was armed with a knife and threatening to “shank” Rankin if he showed up.
The defence has suggested Hellawell was exaggerating or lying about many aspects of that day, including Raju threatening Rankin.
Emergency responders attend the Mt Albert flat where Chrishan Raju stabbed Joeli Rankin to death in February 2024. Raju, on trial for murder in the High Court at Auckland, claims self-defence. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The video ended with Rankin climbing over a fence to Raju’s backyard after failing to kick in the front door.
“Just give me that knife,” he told his partner in the video before retrieving the machete from the bushes.
Soon afterwards, he entered the home through a broken ranchslider with the machete in hand and went directly to Raju, who was in his room, Hellawell told jurors this week.
She heard a scuffle before both men emerged with blood spraying onto the walls. At first, she didn’t know which man was bleeding.
A cellphone video played for jurors in the murder trial of Chrishan Raju showed Joeli Rankin, who was later stabbed to death, trying to force his way into Raju's home.
Rankin was stabbed first, causing a fatal wound, but he managed to pull out his knife and stab Raju before collapsing, lawyers said at the start of the trial. Raju suffered a deep stab wound to his back that resulted in a punctured lung, a doctor contracted to work for police told jurors yesterday.
The doctor said Raju appeared tired and in pain when he examined him at Auckland Hospital hours after the incident.
A pathologist is expected to testify about Rankin’s injuries on Monday as the Crown wraps up its evidence. The defence will then have an opportunity to call witnesses, including Raju if he wishes.
The trial, before Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith and the jury, did not sit today.
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.
