Rakai Jacob Thompson (left inset) has been on trial in the High Court at New Plymouth charged with the murder of Te Omeka Pairama Akariri-Buckley.
A young man who took the life of his good friend has been acquitted of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.
Rakai Jacob Thompson has been in the High Court at New Plymouth defending a charge of murdering 17-year-old Te Omeka Pairama Akariri-Buckley. The trial began on Monday last week.
Yesterday, the Crown and defence gave their closing addresses and Justice Jason McHerron summed up the case to the jury, which then began its deliberations.
Around 4pm today, the jury indicated it had reached a verdict and Thompson, his whānau and Te Omeka’s whānau filled the courtroom to hear the outcome.
The foreperson delivered the unanimous verdict – guilty of the alternative to murder, manslaughter.
Te Omeka’s whānau quietly shed tears, some with their heads bowed, as they heard the result.
Thompson stood in the dock, supported by crutches, as he looked at Justice McHerron and nodded when he was convicted on the charge.
It was one of the few times Thompson, whose foot is in plaster, lifted his head throughout the trial after having spent most of the time hunched over with his face in his hands.
Justice McHerron thanked the jurors for their service before dismissing them and telling them they could now return to their “usual lives”.
He then turned to both whānau and thanked them for their “quiet dignity” in coming to court every day for the trial.
“I cannot for the life of me understand how difficult this must be for you, but I know it must be very hard.
“There are no winners in this case. But one thing I have particularly admired is the way in which I understand you have gathered together for kai each day and I do hope that can continue going forward.”
Thompson was remanded back into custody before his sentencing on March 10.
After the verdict, defence lawyer Paul Keegan echoed Justice McHerron in saying there were no winners.
Keegan described the case as a “terrible tragedy” and said it was a devastating example of what could happen when young men were angry and do not pause to “take a breath”.
“It’s a tragedy for all and my feelings are with the family,” he told NZME.
The jury heard during last week’s evidence that Te Omeka died after being stabbed by Thompson, now 26, early on July 30 last year.
Earlier that day, Te Omeka, his older brother Don Akariri-Buckley, Thompson and their friend Anthony Kipa had spent the evening unsuccessfully sheep-rustling in Taranaki in a bid to fill their freezers.
Tensions were brewing between the group as the night wore on and the Crown claimed Thompson, a landscaper at the time, became increasingly “angered and agitated”.
After returning home in Waitara, he contacted Don and asked him to pick up a road bike he had borrowed.
The brothers had already planned to go to Thompson’s house to drop off some of his belongings.
The Crown said Thompson was standing on his verandah, holding a boning knife and awaiting the arrival of the Akariri-Buckley brothers.
During an altercation on the driveway between Te Omeka and Thompson, the latter was punched in the head several times.
Thompson stabbed Te Omeka twice, to his chest and abdomen, in the seconds that followed. He also caused two incision wounds to the teen’s body.
While the Crown claimed it 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 Thompson had long been mistreated by the brothers and wanted to sever ties with them, which is why he asked for the bike to be collected.
He did not want a confrontation and was carrying the knife because he had been making a sandwich when they arrived, the defence claimed.
In his closing address to the jury yesterday, Crown prosecutor Jacob Bourke said Thompson had been “set off” by a series of disputes that night and was quick to anger.
The final straw for the accused was when Te Omeka tried to go into his shed to get a helmet so he could ride the bike home after Thompson had told the brothers to stay out of the building.
Bourke told the jury Thompson was not scared of the brothers, as he claimed, highlighting he had told them to come to his house.
Nor was he their “battered, beaten down, punching bag”, as he had stated, Bourke said.
“[The defendant] is more concerned with his property rights and stopping them from going into the shed.
“The defendant and Te Omeka end up in each other’s faces, punches are thrown and the defendant intentionally stabs Te Omeka.”
Immediately after, Te Omeka staggered away and collapsed, while Thompson yelled, “Yeah, yeah, I’ve got a f***ing knife. Don’t f*** with me”, Bourke said.
He said the jury needed to consider whether Te Omeka died as a result of Thompson stabbing him, which was not disputed, and in the circumstances, whether it was self-defence and, if so, whether the force used was reasonable.
They also needed to consider whether Thompson had the intention to kill Te Omeka, or to cause him injuries that were more than minor, knowing those injuries were likely to cause death and ran that risk.
“The Crown is not suggesting that this is some highly premeditated or planned killing,” Bourke said.
“But at the point where the defendant stabbed Te Omeka, the Crown says, he was aware, and he had a conscious appreciation of what he was doing and the outcomes that could result.”
He said Thompson went on to blame the brothers for what happened, making them out to be intruders on his property and the aggressors of the night.
His accounts of the events from that evening have been inconsistent and “littered with lies”, Bourke said.
In the closing address of defence lawyer Paul Keegan, KC, he said Thompson never intended to kill Te Omeka, whom he considered a good friend and a little brother.
“But when he did kill him, he was defending himself. When he did kill him, it was without murderous intent.”
He said Te Omeka was quick to violence and also had a short fuse.
Thompson had not wanted a confrontation that evening, and “the notion” he was waiting on the verandah, knife in hand, intent on fatally attacking Te Omeka was a “cheaply written caricature of a villain” and does not fit with the facts, Keegan said.
After the short, heated argument on the driveway, the violence began and Thompson was taken to the ground by a “flurry of blows” delivered by Te Omeka.
Thompson was “flailing at Te Omeka” and stabbed him in the process, Keegan said.
Playing footage of the incident, taken from Thompson’s security camera at his home, again for the jury, Keegan counted four seconds of violence, stating the stabbing accounted for maybe two of those seconds.
“No intention before, no intention after, just during that couple of seconds is the focus for whether he had the guilty mind of a murderer, in that moment.”
Keegan said there was no alternative option but for Thompson to defend himself.
On whether the force used was reasonable, he asked the jury if it was reasonable to expect Thompson to drop the knife while being attacked at his home.
“It was either drop it or use it,” he said.
In the moments that followed, Thompson was shocked to learn the extent of his actions and immediately tried to save Te Omeka.
If the jury did not accept it was self-defence, Keegan said a verdict of manslaughter was available.
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.