The Tenancy Tribunal has heard a couple fled their rental property after witnessing the fatal shooting of Charles Pongi in Point England, Auckland. Photo / Hayden Woodward
The Tenancy Tribunal has heard a couple fled their rental property after witnessing the fatal shooting of Charles Pongi in Point England, Auckland. Photo / Hayden Woodward
A couple who witnessed an alleged gang murder on their street was left so traumatised they fled their rental property the following day and took up emergency accommodation - leaving their landlord thousands out of pocket.
The couple had only been in the rental for three weeks when on August 5 this year there was a “large scale gang incident” directly across the road, the decision detailed.
“The tenants witnessed the event and suffered emotional trauma as a result,” it stated.
That afternoon, more than 70 gang members from the Head Hunters, Rebel MCs, and their associates converged on Point England’s Taurima Reserve for an organised brawl.
Head Hunters gang member Charles Pongi, 32, was shot during the melee and later died in Auckland City Hospital.
At least 20 gunshots were fired in the incident and four people have since been charged with the murder of Pongi.
While the landlord, whose name has been suppressed, pointed out they had signed a one-year fixed-term agreement, the couple stayed only one more night before moving into emergency accommodation.
By August 12, they had removed all of their belongings from the property and the couple applied to the tribunal to be released early from the tenancy agreement.
But while the landlord was prepared to absorb the losses of being without a tenant from September 5 until September 30, when they re-tenanted the property, they sought rent arrears of $3520 which covered the period the couple advised they would be moving out, until September 5.
Gang members gathered at the Head Hunters pad in Ellerslie for Charles Pongi's funeral. Photo / NZME
The landlord also sought payment from the couple for re-letting expenses.
In its decision, the tribunal stated it has the power to reduce the term of a tenancy where it is satisfied that because of an unforeseen change in the applicant’s circumstances, the severe hardship that the applicant would suffer would be greater than the hardship that the other party to the tenancy would suffer if the term were reduced.
The tribunal found that in this case the “large-scale gang incident that the tenants experienced across the road from their property was, or created, an unforeseen change in their circumstances”.
It further found that “given the necessity to move away from the area”, the hardship the couple would suffer if held to the conditions of the tenancy agreement would be greater than the hardship the landlord would experience if they were released from it early.
The tribunal granted the couple’s application to reduce the term of the tenancy agreement and also upheld the landlord’s claim, ordering the couple to pay $3520 in rent arrears and $249 in re-letting expenses.
According to the decision, the rent arrears would be covered by the couple’s bond.
The men jointly accused of murdering Pongi, and a man charged with discharging a firearm with intent to intimidate and unlawful possession of a firearm, have all pleaded not guilty.
They all remain in custody ahead of their August 2025 trial date.
Pongi was farewelled on August 19 by a large number of Head Hunters who gathered at the gang’s pad in Ellerslie before riding their motorcycles in convoy for a service at a church in Ōnehunga.
