Members of the two men's family gathered outside of the Wellington District Court after both were found not guilty this afternoon. Photo / Hazel Osborne
Members of the two men's family gathered outside of the Wellington District Court after both were found not guilty this afternoon. Photo / Hazel Osborne
There were tears of relief and the sounds of prayer and song echoed throughout the court as a jury today found two men acted in self-defence during a brawl in Wellington that left a new dad in an intensive care unit.
The public gallery erupted in applause in themoments after the jury, following six hours of deliberation, found Iulu Apineru and Henry Atoni not guilty of injuring with reckless disregard.
The men were accused of punching new father Nicholas Crosby in the face after the Kāpiti man was on the ground and unable to fight back.
However, today’s acquittal meant the jury believed the pair had acted in self-defence and to protect each other after Crosby threw the first punch outside of a Wellington strip club in the early hours of July 31 last year.
Apineru and Atoni, who are cousins, have had significant support throughout the four days of the trial with a majority of the public gallery at the Wellington District Court filled with family members each day this week.
While gathering in the hallway, a man spoke to the group who said they believed God had been with them, and the verdict meant they could now move on with their lives.
The allegations arose after Crosby, who had been drinking with his partner Renee Hunter and family, clashed with the cousins.
The couple were out drinking for the first time since the birth of their 4-month-old daughter and were with Crosby’s brother Jacob and sister-in-law Ruby, who were visiting from Northland.
The Crown didn’t deny Crosby threw the first punch, but argued the violence that ensued went beyond self-defence for the two men whose names have now been cleared.
The fight occurred outside Calendar Girls in the Wellington Central Business District. Photo / Google maps
Crosby suffered significant injuries from the fight, which left him bloodied, suffering seizures and in an ICU for three days after being resuscitated on the way to hospital.
He experienced “seizure-like” episodes for months after the fight but these were not epileptic, the court heard this week.
During the trial, Apineru admitted he had punched Crosby in the head multiple times while he was on the ground, but claimed the man still posed a threat and he was acting in defence of his cousin.
Atoni said his vision was blurred and all he could see were figures after Crosby had attempted to gouge his eyes. According to Atoni, he didn’t know if any punches he threw that night landed.
Both men had sustained injuries during the fight, with Atoni suffering from black eyes and bite marks.
Crosby’s past convictions for violent offending were aired by the men’s lawyers, who claimed their clients were up against a man who picked fights and wasn’t a stranger to brawling.
Crosby’s brother Jacob told the court this week his sibling was “not an easy man to put on his back”.
Judge Andrew Nicholls told the jury during his summing up earlier today that they could not hold Crosby’s past offending against him in their deliberations and asked the group to focus on the evidence at hand.
He asked them to reach their verdict free of prejudice, or sympathy and said the onus remained on the Crown to prove the men had acted recklessly when injuring Crosby during the fight.
After delivering their verdict, Judge Nicholls thanked them for their diligence throughout the week.
“It’s an important thing that you do and an important thing that you’ve done,” he said.
Hazel Osborne is an Open Justice reporter for NZME and is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. She joined the Open Justice team at the beginning of 2022, previously working in Whakatāne as a court and crime reporter in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
