Māngere car-fall death: Jurors return guilty verdict in Mesi Teo manslaughter trial

Kimleang Youn died after falling from a moving vehicle in April. Photo / Supplied

In a lengthy and at times borderline incoherent closing address, manslaughter defendant Mesi Teo - accused of causing a new acquaintance’s death by intimidating him to the point he decided to jump out of a moving vehicle - told jurors he was the victim of a conspiracy by police, the court and witnesses to torture, humiliate and damage him.

“They treated me like a dog,” he said of his arrest. “I was not the driver of that van.”

But after five hours of deliberations spanning two days, jurors disregard Teo’s counter-accusations. They found him guilty this afternoon of both manslaughter and failure to stop and ascertain injury for the death of Kimleang Youn, a 28-year-old from Cambodia known by the nickname “Hang” who fell to the pavement on a Māngere street in April 2021.

Justice Michael Robinson ordered a sentencing date for next month.

Prosecutors said Teo was guilty of “fright response” manslaughter, which occurs when someone’s behaviour causes another person to act in a way that causes their own death.

Teo and Youn had met on the same day of the incident, when they both showed up at a mutual friend’s home. Teo was looking to score methamphetamine and Youn was looking for a pipe to smoke his own supply, so they paired up and drove off together, prosecutors Anna Devathasan and Rob McDonald alleged.

But later, as Teo drove past a store where he had agreed to drop off the passenger, Youn asked where they were going and unlatched his seatbelt, prosecutors said.

“I know you have drugs inside your pockets,” Teo then responded, according to a friend of the defendant who would later testify that Teo confessed to him.

When Youn repeated that he had no more drugs on him, Teo is alleged to have responded, “What about I check your pockets?” before patting down the passenger’s thigh.

That is when prosecutors say Youn jumped out of the vehicle, estimated to be travelling over 40km/h. He suffered critical injuries and died weeks later.

“There is overwhelming evidence Mr Teo was the driver of the van that night,” Devathasan said during her closing address to jurors on Friday. “Any alternative theory ... defies common sense.”

In addition to the friend who said Teo confessed, there was Teo’s DNA detected on the outside pocket area of Youn’s pants, CCTV footage showing Teo with the van in the same area about 15 minutes before the incident, another witness whose testimony suggested Teo had a pattern of acting in a “domineering way when he’s in a moving vehicle” and a recorded call between Teo and his father that took place one week after his arrest in July 2021.

“How is it my fault if he jumps out of my car? I didn’t hold a gun to his head and tell him to jump,” Teo said in Samoan, according to a translated transcript of the call. “God knows I didn’t push him out.”

Prosecutors emphasised that it wasn’t necessary for Teo to have pushed Youn. As a much larger man in a confined space, Teo’s “veiled threat” triggered a fight or flight response in his passenger and there was nowhere else to go, Devathasan said.

“It’s an impossible coincidence if all of this is made up,” she said. “All of these pieces of evidence fit neatly together to tell you what happened that night.”

But Teo told jurors during his own closing address on Monday that, although he drove the van directly before and after the incident, he wasn’t driving when Youn exited.

Image of man involved in Mangere incident which resulted in the death of Kimleang Youn. Photo / NZ Police

He had gone to the mutual friend’s home that day not looking for meth but to help collect a debt for a friend who “needed money for his kids and things like that”. He declined to identify the friend by name or to describe him except to say repeatedly that he had “lots of kids”.

Teo explained that Youn was called to the house to bring drugs or money to help their mutual friend pay off the debt.

“I tested the stuff,” Teo said, explaining that the pipe they both used was broken - causing Youn to wipe it on his pants, resulting in Teo’s DNA there.

While Teo and Youn were in the van together, Teo said his unnamed friend called and asked if he had received the money.

“It was cut,” Teo recalled saying of the drugs. “It’s not good stuff.”

After that, Teo said, he drove the van to where his friend was and got out, leaving Youn inside.

“I let my friend sort out his own thing,” he said, explaining that his friend drove off and when he returned “he was crying he was so upset”.

“Did you do anything? Did you touch him?” Teo said he asked his friend.

“He’s got a lot of kids, so I took it upon myself ... I stand up for human rights and stuff like that and I stand up for the weak.”

But there was a problem with Teo’s claims about a mystery man during the closing address. He had declined to testify during the trial and it was the first time such a scenario had been alluded to.

During his summing up, Justice Robinson gave a standard instruction for jurors that only testimony from the witness box can be considered as evidence - not statements made during closing arguments.

Teo also argued that the friend who testified against him should not be believed because his statement changed dramatically between the first and second times he spoke with police. Some of the details of his statement, Teo argued, could have been pulled from an episode of Police Ten 7 that focused on the case.

The witness had testified that he didn’t want to turn on his friend during the first police interview because he didn’t think the case was that big of a deal, but he listened to his conscience and told the truth after learning of Youn’s death.

“They are lying through their teeth ... especially the Crown,” Teo insisted. “Their star witness has lied.”

He described the case against him as “malicious, false and misleading” as well as “criminal and unlawful”.

“They tried in many ways to break me ... but they failed miserably and for that I came out swinging,” he said.

“I’ve been done so wrong and so bad. This case is about David and Goliath and I stood up to them. I’m damaged for this.”

Today’s verdict is the culmination of a case that was repeatedly beset by oddities and delays that included the loss of a juror due to Covid-19, a spectator who was accused of approaching jurors outside the courthouse to give his opinion of the case and frequent disputes outside jurors’ presence in which Teo repeated that he was being unjustly persecuted and threatened to privately prosecute court staff, investigating officers and lawyers.

On more than one occasion, jurors were sent home early as Teo told the judge outside their presence that he was sick or dizzy due to post-traumatic stress disorder triggered by his arrest. Justice Robinson often implored him to stop talking over lawyers and himself.

Two standby defence lawyers sat throughout the trial, which was initially expected to last two weeks but spilled into a fourth. Teo told the judge repeatedly that he preferred to represent himself.

“I’m strongly going to appeal this to the strongest level,” Teo vowed today before security led him out of the courtroom and back to his holding cell.

In a brief statement released a short time later, Detective Senior Sergeant Kepal Richards took issue with Teo’s repeated misconduct claims.

“I would like to acknowledge the police staff that worked on this investigation, all of whom showed great professionalism in what was a difficult investigation,” he said.

“Today’s verdict is a testament of their tireless work and is welcomed by the family of Kimleang.”