Rakai Jacob Thompson is on trial in the High Court at New Plymouth, charged with the murder of Te Omeka Pairama Akariri-Buckley. Photo / Tara Shaskey
A man accused of murdering his young friend broke down as he spoke with a detective about the fatal moment.
“I didn’t want him to die. I didn’t mean to stab him,” Rakai Jacob Thompson said while being formally questioned by police detective James Wykes.
An emotional Thompson put his head in his arms and leaned on the table at which he was seated.
A two-hour-and-40-minute video of the interview was played as evidence at Thompson’s trial yesterday.
The interview was conducted hours after the alleged murder of 17-year-old Te Omeka Pairama Akariri-Buckley.
While Thompson showed moments of emotion, he was mostly composed, talkative and made a few jokes.
Toward the end of the interview, he was asked for the password to one of his social media accounts.
He told Wykes it was “bad boy killer”, which were the initials for Bell Block, or BBK, where he grew up.
Thompson’s two-week trial in the High Court at New Plymouth began on Monday.
The jury has heard that Te Omeka died after being stabbed by Thompson, 26, early on July 30 last year.
Earlier, Te Omeka, his older brother Don Akariri-Buckley, Thompson and their friend, Anthony Kipa, had spent the evening unsuccessfully sheep-rustling at two locations in Taranaki, in a bid to fill their freezers.
As the night wore on, the group began to argue and, the Crown claimed, Thompson, a landscaper at the time, became increasingly “angered and agitated”.
After returning to his home in Waitara, he contacted Don and told him to pick up a road bike he had borrowed from him.
The Crown said he was standing on his verandah, with a boning knife in hand, awaiting the arrival of the Akariri-Buckley brothers.
While the Crown claimed what ensued was murder, the defence accepted Thompson stabbed the teen but argued he did not intentionally cause his death, and his actions were in self-defence.
They say that Thompson had long been mistreated by the brothers and wanted to sever ties with them, hence his asking for the bike to be collected.
He did not want a confrontation and was carrying the knife because he was scared, the defence claimed.
During an altercation on the driveway between Te Omeka and Thompson, Thompson was punched in the head several times.
Defence claimed that in the seconds that followed, he stabbed Te Omeka out of “instinct and fear”, and immediately after tried to help save his life.
During Thompson’s interview with Wykes, he repeatedly said he had been scared of the brothers for years.
“It didn’t just start at my house,” he said.
“It’s been a few years build up.”
Thompson claimed Don had been physically abusive to him in the past, and the brothers often “stood over him”, stole from him, threw their weight around and were “bigger and stronger” than him.
He said he wanted a clean break from them and repeated that he had been defending himself when he stabbed Te Omeka.
Thompson claimed that when the brothers arrived at his house, he was inside, using the knife to make a sandwich, and had no intention of going outside, having left the bike on the driveway for them to take.
But when he heard Te Omeka trying to get into his shed, after Thompson had told them to stay out, he went outside.
A fight ensued, with Te Omeka punching him several times.
Thompson also claimed Don punched him, saying the brothers had “rushed” him.
While there was evidence that Thompson unsuccessfully threw the first punch and Te Omeka then punched Thompson, there has been no evidence that Don attacked Thompson, until after his brother had been stabbed.
When speaking to Wykes, Thompson’s story about stabbing Te Omeka varied.
He had told another officer earlier that he had the knife on him “for protection”, but told Wykes he had not intentionally taken the knife outside.
Thompson told Wykes he had pushed Te Omeka while he was being hit, and unknowingly stabbed him in the process, not realising he had the knife in his hand at the time, but later said he intentionally stabbed him once, in defence.
He also claimed he turned the knife around at one point, so it was pointing at himself.
Thompson said he dropped the knife after stabbing his young friend, and then worked to stem his blood.
“I didn’t mean to kill him. I didn’t mean to stab him,” he told Wykes.
Today, the Crown concluded its evidence after calling a pathologist and Detective Senior Sergeant Paula Drewery as its final witnesses.
The defence elected not to call evidence.
The trial, before Justice Jason McHerron, will continue on Monday when the Crown and defence will deliver their closings.
Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 and is currently an assistant editor and reporter for the Open Justice team. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff covering crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.