Fatal beating in retaliation to narking, Crown tells jury

The Crown is alleging Samuel Pou inflicted a beating on his partner knowing that the punches will kill her. Photo / Tania Whyte

Warning: This story discusses graphic details of domestic violence

Samuel Pou was angry that his partner narked on him so he inflicted a prolonged beating at a rural Northland property without cellphone coverage and help at hand to ensure there was no way she would tell on him again, the Crown told a jury.

Crown solicitor Mike Smith told a jury in his closing address in the High Court at Whangārei that Pou intended to kill Bridget Simmonds when he beat her in a hut on Wilson Rd in Parakao and later diverted blame on others.

Samuel Pou, 58, is facing one charge of murder and his nephew Te Koha Pou is charged with dishonestly using Simmonds's bank card and helping his uncle avoid arrest.

Justice Christine Gordon will sum up the case this morning

before the jury retires to consider the verdicts, likely to be around noon.

Samuel Pou has confessed to police that he punched Simmonds more than 100 times around her legs one evening in early 2019 after she would not stop spilling wine but did not intend to kill her.

He buried her body in a shallow grave on the property and it was excavated about 15 months later.

Smith said Samuel Pou had seriously assaulted her twice prior to the fatal beating, and on each occasion he denied, minimised or endeavoured to justify his actions.

Due to the partly decomposed stated of Simmonds' body, he said it could not be certain which blows killed her but it didn't mean Samuel Pou did not beat her with an intention to kill her.

An assault on a former partner as well as on Simmonds suggested Samuel Pou did not have a tendency to restrict his beating to parts of the body, Smith said.

"He inflicted such injury that he knew would kill her. He shouldn't get away with it, given the evidence before the court," Smith told the jury.

The narking is in reference to an earlier assault by Pou for which he has already pleaded guilty to four charges of injuring with intent to injure and one of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Samuel Pou's lawyer Arthur Fairley said because his client lied to police about Simmonds' whereabouts until his confession and the fact that he assaulted her and another woman in the past did not mean he was a murderer.

He resuscitated Simmonds for 20 minutes after she stopped breathing following the assault and went to police voluntarily to make his confession, Fairley said.

"Does that not have a human ring about it? Is that consistent with a man with murderous intent?"

John Moroney, representing Te Koha Pou, said the latter admitted using Simmonds' card because he was given permission to do so either by her or Samuel Pou.

Simmonds had told Te Koha Pou what he had to buy for her and "whatever else" he needed, Moroney said.

On the accusation, he knew what had happened to Simmonds so he helped his uncle avoid arrest. Moroney asked the jury to focus on what Te Koha Pou knew at the time he took his uncle to the Wilson Rd property.

Samuel Pou had told his nephew he punched her after she tried to gouge her eyes out, he said.

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