Ōtāhuhu homicide: Joshua Timoti pleads guilty to manslaughter of Jonty Douglas

An Ōtāhuhu resident who stabbed a man to death at a South Auckland address last year has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter, just a week and a half out from what was set to be his murder trial.

Joshua Timoti, 35, appeared in the dock in the High Court at Auckland today as he admitted to causing the death of 26-year-old apprentice builder Jonty Douglas one year ago. He was already in custody awaiting trial and was remanded back into custody today by Justice Mathew Downs to await sentencing.

Police found Douglas with critical injuries at a Jane Cowie Ave address in Ōtāhuhu around 8pm on August 18, 2022.

Jonty Douglas, 26, died at a South Auckland property in August 2022.

“Despite police providing first aid, he has died at the scene,” Counties Manukau CIB Detective Inspector Warrick Adkin said at the time.

Douglas was a hard-working man who was about to finish his apprenticeship as a builder when he died, his sister previously told the Herald.

She described him as a “gentle giant” who was a family man and always eager to offer help in any way he could.

He was also active in Destiny Church’s Man Up programme, a rehabilitation course and self-described “brotherhood” aimed at helping men “to heal their inner selves in order to lead fulfilling lives as leaders in their homes and communities”.

Manslaughter carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment.

In addition to the manslaughter charge, Timoti pleaded guilty today to injuring another man on the same date with intent to injure.

A sentencing date has not yet been set, and the summary of the facts for the case is yet to be agreed upon.

Justice Downs ordered today that Timoti be brought back to court next month to determine a sentencing date.

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.