An Auckland Central sex worker has been sentenced to three years and three months’ jail for manslaughter after she lashed out at a father-of-two with a knife in an attack she claims followed being raped in the back of a car.
However, at a disputed facts hearing prior to sentencing in Auckland High Court today, Crown prosecutor Brett Tantrum argued there was no rape in an open-air Grafton car park in the early hours of March 12, 2023, and the attack was fuelled by Whitney Iraia-Burgess, 33, seeking money for her meth habit.
Justice Geoffrey Venning agreed with the Crown there was no rape or attempted rape and “at most” there was an argument with the victim Daniel Otess, 57, about money in the City Rd carpark that “initially led to pushing and shoving” outside the car.
Iraia-Burgess then slashed at Otess with a knife, which her defence barrister Mark Ryan said was carried for self-defence as a working girl, resulting in five sharp force injuries – one of which severed an artery in Otess’ arm resulting in “massive” blood loss.
He died beside his car in a pool of blood as Iraia-Burgess fled with $100, with two unused condoms left at the scene.
Then-murder suspect Iraia-Burgess was the subject of a multi-day manhunt last year after Otess’ body was found. The father of two was a night cleaner originally from Ghana whose death was described by those who knew him as having “crushed the hearts of families in two countries”.
North Shore resident Iraia-Burgess stood in the dock in the High Court at Auckland this morning as she admitted the fatal stabbing of Otess – but claimed she had begun stabbing him in the back seat in an attempt to escape as he had pinned her arm while raping her.
“There was a fight in the back seat where he had his hand around my wrist … that’s why I cut his hand because I couldn’t get out of the vehicle at the time,” she said.
“What I was trying to do was try to escape. I wasn’t sitting watching to put his pants on … he came out of the vehicle pretty quickly.”
But Crown prosecutor Tantrum showed CCTV footage from the carpark on the night which he said did not support Iraia-Burgess’ narrative. Tantrum argued there would have been no time for Otess to buckle up his pants and chase after Iraia-Burgess, and there was very little blood found inside his car.
Iraia-Burges had been set to go to trial for murder in the middle of this year, but that charge was withdrawn in lieu of Iraia-Burgess’ manslaughter admission.
In sentencing today at Auckland High Court, Justice Venning said Iraia-Burgess’ response to the carpark altercation with a knife was “not reasonable”.
“The taking of a life in such a senseless way should be condemned,” Venning said.
“The long-lasting effect of your offending on Mr Otess’ family should be very evident to you by now.”
Victim impact statements read by both of Otess’ daughters in court today described a home “that has become a place of sorrow and emptiness” since the death.
“He weighed no more than 55kg. He travelled 10,000 miles leaving behind friends and the only world he knew. He worked hard every day and always gave back to his family at home,” one of Otess’ daughters said.
“I am heartbroken. When I wake in the mornings he is no longer there … when I call he no longer answers. There will be no more long drives with my passenger prince.
“I will go through a lifetime of missing my father for the privilege of knowing him.”
Among a large contingent of Otess’ family in court today was his brother from Ghana.
“He considered New Zealand his home,” he said. Relatives in Ghana finding out how Otess died was a “shattering” experience that had deprived them of financial sponsorship from Otess’ devoted work in New Zealand, he said.
Two other witnesses who interacted with Iraia-Burgess in the hours prior and following the killing appeared as witnesses in a disputed facts hearing this morning.
Tamehana Maru, who appeared via video link, was with Iraia-Burgess prior to meeting Otess on the night of March 11, 2023. The pair were smoking meth and drinking together.
Iraia-Burgess claimed Maru provided her with the knife Otess was killed with when he dropped her off in the middle of the night outside a Countdown. Maru disputed he provided the knife.
Iraia-Burgess’ defence barrister Mark Ryan explained the carrying of the knife in court today: “People in this profession are extremely vulnerable and it’s not unusual for them to carry something for their protection”.
Iraia-Burgess admitted she had carried knives before but not used them. She had also had two prior offences for knife possession in 2016 and 2019.
Another witness appearing by video link today in court was Joshua Wong who met up with Iraia-Burgess after the stabbing of Otess.
Wong denied helping Iraia-Burgess dispose of the knife which was wrapped up and thrown off a bridge, and taking her clothes and one of the cellphones she had on her that night.
“He did, he guided me on what to do the whole time. I was in shock … I didn’t know what to do because I was being tracked. I had my phones on me,” Iraia-Burgess claimed of Wong.
Wong also disputed saying “The police will be here any minute to raid your house if he dies” to Iraia-Burgess on the night of the attack.
“She said when she got in the car that she’d been in a fight. That was going to be the best response to use for why she did what she did,” Wong said of what Iraia-Burgess had told him that night.
In sentencing today, Justice Venning gave discounts from his starting point of six years’ jail for Iraia-Burgess’ extremely difficult upbringing, efforts at rehibilitation, guilty plea for manslaughter and time already served on bail.
“You’re now 33 years old. Your life has been a tragic one. You were abandoned by your mother shortly after your birth,” Venning said, adding she was “a victim of physical and sexual abuse” during her youth.
Iraia-Burgess’ was supported in court by her teenage daughter today.
Police launched an investigation last year after a group found Otess’ body beside a car in the open-air carpark on Grafton’s City Rd, near Symonds St around 5.20am on March 12, 2023. Police quickly identified Iraia-Burgess as the suspected culprit and sought the public’s help in locating her. She handed herself in after several days in hiding, authorities said at the time.
“Ms Iraia-Burgess and Mr Otess were not known to each other prior to the incident,” authorities noted in the summary of facts for the case, a document that was agreed to by both the Crown and the defence. “At about 4.20am ... [Otess’] vehicle stopped nearby where Ms Iraia-Burgess was standing on Liverpool Street.
“The two had a quick conversation via the vehicle window and Ms Iraia-Burgess then got into the front passenger seat of Mr Otess’ vehicle, seemingly for her services of sexual activity.”
Police noted soon after the homicide investigation began that Otess had been captured on CCTV at a nearby petrol station an hour before the discovery of his body. It was revealed today that the defendant had been with him. He withdrew $100 before returning to the car.
After arriving at the “secluded” carpark, the pair parked diagonally in a corner.
“Soon after their arrival at 4.44am, Ms Iraia-Burgess and Mr Otess started a physical altercation outside Mr Otess’ vehicle,” court documents state. “Ms Iraia-Burgess pulled out an unknown weapon that was already in her possession. She slashed Mr Otess multiple times around the head, shoulder and the arm area.”
Suffering five “sharp-force injuries”, as well as blunt-force injuries to his nose and surrounding areas, Otess attempted to get back into his vehicle after the defendant fled the scene on foot with the cash he had withdrawn.
“However, due to massive blood loss from the wound to his left forearm, he collapsed to the ground and died next to his vehicle,” the documents state. “The cause of death was the sharp force injury to the left arm.”
The violent last moments of Otess’ life stand in stark contrast to the man remembered last year by friends in Auckland’s tight-knit Ghanaian community, which was left reeling after as it came to grips with the limited information about what had happened.
“New Zealand is considered by our community as a safe and peaceful country to live in but this incident has shaken that confidence,” Charles Ampomah-Dwamena, who serves as the West African nation’s honorary consul in New Zealand, said at the time.
Friends remembered Otess as a family man and a “very calm person” who wasn’t known to seek confrontation.
“He will be missed by the whole community, he was a part of us,” friend Bright Duah, a member of the Ghana Association of New Zealand, previously told the Herald. “He was a lovely and caring family man. He had recently taken his family to Ghana to meet his parents there.”
Tom Dillane is an Auckland-based journalist covering local government and crime as well as sports investigations. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is deputy head of news.
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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