Murder inquiry: Person shot dead in Otahuhu, Auckland; armed police cordon off street. Video / NZ Herald
In the moments before Alec Moala was fatally wounded by multiple shotgun blasts in the front yard of a South Auckland home, friend John Faavae had seen a man approach the porch where Moala has been sitting with his cousin.
"She [cousin Chanelle Mafileo] was yelling to stop," Faavae toldjurors today at the murder trial of Sosaia Vaitohi and Methuselah Talakai. "She said his name ... saying Saia."
Saia is the nickname for Vaitohi, prosecutors said this week as testimony began in the High Court at Auckland.
"Everything just happened so fast," Faavae told jurors, explaining that he had been sitting in the passenger seat of his own car, parked in the driveway of the Ōtāhuhu home. "He just walked right past.
"When he went around the car is when I heard the three bangs."
Sosaia Vaitohi (left) and Methuselah Talakai (right) are on trial for murder in the High Court of Auckland, accused of killing Alec Moala in May 2021. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Faavae immediately got out of the car and fell flat onto the ground, he recalled, adding that he continued to hear "shouting and yelling". One of the voices, he said, was an American accent coming from a car parked on the street.
Prosecutors have said Talakai, who has an American accent, was the getaway driver that night.
Faavae said he couldn't identify the man who fired or the man who was in the car. Lawyers for both defendants have said they weren't there when the shooting occurred.
Prosecutors allege the shooting was the result of an argument between Moala's cousin and Talakai hours earlier regarding an aborted drug deal. Mafileo, the cousin, was slapped during the argument, which led to an angry phone exchange between Moala and the two defendants in the early morning hours of May 23, 2021, authorities allege.
During a lengthy but unproductive trip to the witness box yesterday and today, Mafileo denied remembering anything at all about the details of the night other than the fact she had been up several days and smoked methamphetamine.
Alec Junior Moala was shot dead in May 2021. Photo / Supplied
As lawyers for the defendants cross-examined Faavae today, they pointed out that he did not mention hearing an American accent or Mafileo yelling Vaitohi's nickname in his first interview with police, which took place around 5am on the morning of the shooting. Both details were mentioned to police a week later, one day after meeting with Moala's family at a memorial service.
"I did hear the name," Faavae responded. "At the time I was too frightened to say it [to police]."
Lawyer Nicola Manning, who represents Vaitohi, asked the witness repeatedly if he was lying.
"I suggest you're just saying that now because you know Mr Vaitohi's a gang member," she said.
Lawyer Julie-Anne Kincade, KC, later pointed out that Faavae goes by the nickname "Loi". He acknowledged the word means "liar" in Tongan but insisted his account of what happened was truthful.
The trial got off to a rough start today after Justice Mathew Downs dismissed a juror who was found to have a connection to the case. The trial continues with 11 jurors.
