Peresia Tapui appears in the High Court at Auckland charged with manslaughter after the death of his cellmate at Mt Eden Corrections Facility. Photo / Michael Craig
Peresia Tapui appears in the High Court at Auckland charged with manslaughter after the death of his cellmate at Mt Eden Corrections Facility. Photo / Michael Craig
A Mt Eden Corrections Facility inmate charged with manslaughter after the death of an elderly cellmate is Peresia Tapui.
The 28-year-old was charged last month, accused of fatally assaulting Johnathan Peter Trubuhovich, 69, on November 29.
Trubuhovich - who had been awaiting sentencing for assault, shopliftingand disorderly behaviour charges - died in hospital 10 days later.
Lawyer David Dickinson entered a not guilty plea on Tapui’s behalf today during the defendant’s first High Court appearance for the homicide charge.
If convicted, Tapui could face up to life imprisonment.
The defendant was granted interim name suppression at his first appearance last month in the district court but opted not to pursue the matter today.
Peresia Tapui was charged with manslaughter after the death of his cellmate at Mt Eden Corrections Facility. Photo / Michael Craig
Justice James MacGillivray set a trial date for March next year. It is expected to last three weeks.
A spokesperson for Trubuhovich’s family told NZME last month, several days before the manslaughter charge was filed, that they were in the dark about what had happened and wanted answers.
“We want the truth to come out; this should not happen,” the spokesperson said.
Mt Eden Corrections Facility. Photo / Michael Craig
“We thought he was safe.”
Trubuhovich had been scheduled for sentencing in mid-December, and his family had hoped he would receive a non-custodial outcome so he could be home by Christmas.
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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