Man facing charge over suicide

By PATRICK GOWER

An Auckland man faces a rare charge of inciting suicide after he allegedly taunted his girlfriend before she hanged herself.

William James Tamatea is also accused of deterring others from helping the woman.

The police say the 20-year-old hanged herself in the garage of their Manurewa home after an argument about her whakapapa (family history) during a drinking session in March.

She died in Middlemore Hospital six days later.

Yesterday Tamatea, 53, appeared in the Manukau District Court for a depositions hearing to see whether there is enough evidence for him to go to trial in the High Court.

The charge of inciting suicide carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. It is understood the charge may not have been laid in New Zealand before.

The victim's younger brother told the court that his sister was banging her head against a wall during the argument.

After she made a "snarly face" at Tamatea, he asked, "What are looking at me like that for?"

The brother said Tamatea then asked the victim: "I suppose you want to go and hang yourself? I suppose you want me to go out and put you up on the rope?"

Tamatea then allegedly told the woman that there was a rope in their garage. She went outside and he later followed.

Her brother heard screaming 15 minutes later and ran to the garage to find Tamatea holding both the couple's baby daughter and his sister as the victim hung from the rafters.

The sister, then aged 10, was "in shock" and unable to call police but handed him a mobile phone as he tried to resuscitate the victim.

Crown prosecutor Bruce Northwood said: "The police case is that [Tamatea] encouraged and incited the deceased to take the action she did."

Mr Northwood said Tamatea faced other charges, including assaulting the woman and assaulting their baby by pulling its ears and giving it a blood nose.

The court heard that Tamatea and the victim met when she was a 15-year-old runaway and he was in his late 40s.

The woman, who needed plastic surgery after she was born with a deformed face, was sexually abused by a relative while she was a child and had a troubled adolescence.

Her mother told the court that on the night of her death Tamatea asked about her death certificate so he could readjust his benefit and get on the domestic purposes benefit.

She said there was a custody battle over the couple's baby, now in the care of Tamatea's relatives, and that her husband broke into Tamatea's house after the death.

The hearing continues.