Murder inquiry: Person shot dead in Otahuhu, Auckland; armed police cordon off street. Video / NZ Herald
A jury trial for two men who were charged with murder after an alleged shotgun ambush in South Auckland has been aborted.
Sosaia Vaitohi and Methuselah Talakai had been on trial since last week in the High Court at Auckland. But Justice Mathew Downs yesterday called off the trial, whichhad been scheduled to last three weeks.
The reason for the cancellation has been suppressed.
Prosecutors have alleged Vaitohi was the gunman and Talakai was the driver early on May 23 last year when Alec Junior Moala, 31, died outside an Ōtāhuhu home from multiple shotgun wounds.
The bad blood between Moala and the defendants had started the day earlier, after Talakai went to the same home for a drug deal set up by Moala's cousin that fell through, Crown prosecutor Chris Howard told jurors last week. The cousin, Chanelle Mafileo, was slapped by Talakai as he demanded money from her, the prosecutor alleged during his opening address.
Moala got into a heated phone exchange with the defendants about the slap after he arrived at the property hours later, prosecutors said.
But defence lawyers Anoushka Bloem, who represents Vaitohi, and Julie-Anne Kincade, KC, who represents Talakai, have said their clients were not at the property when Moala was shot.
Alec Junior Moala was shot dead in May 2021. Photo / Supplied
Mafileo, who was the first witness to testify, said repeatedly over the course of two days in the witness box that she could not recall anything about the shooting because of her lack of sleep and use of drugs and alcohol in the days leading up to it.
Another witness, John Faavae, who was sitting in a car parked in the driveway of the property where his friend died, said the gunman walked right past him before he heard three loud blasts.
He couldn't identify the gunman but he said he heard Mafileo call out for someone by the name of "Saia" to stop. Saia is Vaitohi's nickname, prosecutors have alleged.
But lawyers for the two defendants suggested during cross-examination that he was making up details about the shooting to implicate their clients. He never mentioned that name being said when he spoke to police on the morning of Moala's death, he acknowledged.
"I did hear the name," Faavae responded. "At the time I was too frightened to say it [to police]."
Sosaia Vaitohi (left) and Methuselah Talakai (right) are on trial for murder in the High Court of Auckland, accused of killing Alec Moala in May 2021. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A new trial date is set to be determined next month.
