Man tells of sister's rage before she hanged herself

Twenty-year-old Rochelle Thompson was in a "total rage" just before hanging herself in her Manurewa garage, a jury in the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.

Her 53-year-old partner, William James Tamatea, is accused of inciting her to kill herself.

He also faces charges of assaulting her and their infant daughter. Ms Thompson, the court has heard, yearned to learn more about her father's whakapapa.

On the evening she committed suicide she became angry during a heated family discussion about her family history when Tamatea allegedly said he knew all about her whakapapa (a claim denied by the family).

Ms Thompson told him that they had been together for four years and he had "broken her heart".

Yesterday the dead woman's brother, Thomas Thompson, told the jury that his sister "was in a total rage", glaring at Tamatea.

Tamatea allegedly told her: "I suppose you want to go outside and hang yourself ...

"I suppose you want me to go outside and help you look for a rope, do you? There's one in the garage ... I suppose you want me to go outside and help you up with the rope."

Ms Thompson swore at Tamatea and started banging her head against a cupboard.

Her brother said that his sister, who had not had a lot to drink, was lunging and throwing herself at the cupboard.

Mr Thompson told the court he tried to stop her. She told him that he was her brother but that he made her feel as useless as Tamatea did.

Mr Thompson said he replied: "If that is the way you want to be, I don't want to be your brother."

When he saw her go outside he thought it was for a cigarette. A little later she was found hanging from a rafter in the garage.

Her mother, Aira Thompson, told the court that her daughter ran away from home when she was 15 1/2 and later took up with Tamatea.

She used to stand up for herself, but "the Rochelle who was living with Willie Tamatea had changed dramatically. She had no self-esteem. Nothing."

Her daughter had bruises which she had told her Tamatea caused.

Mrs Thompson said that Tamatea claimed he loved her daughter, but if that were true he would not have "panelbeat" her.

On the day Ms Thomson died, five days after hanging herself, Tamatea allegedly asked about where the death certificate would go so that he could go on the DPB.

Tamatea's lawyer, Iunu Sapolu, said her client was making financial plans for young Rochelle.

But Mrs Thompson said Tamatea was a "sleaze".

"Money was worth more than love."

Whare Thompson, the dead woman's father, said that Tamatea had asked for their blessing for Tamatea to marry their daughter when she was 17.

"We could not give our blessing because she was too young and he was too old."

Later, when the couple had a child, he said he was "blown away". It was like having another daughter. He said the family's attitude towards Tamatea changed.

But although Rochelle loved Tamatea, Mr Thompson said he "could not see any return of that love".

The trial, before Justice Peter Salmon, continues today.