Simon Tavita, convicted of killing man in Manurewa’s Jellicoe Park, deported to Samoa

Nigel Fuatimu, 21, died at Jellicoe Park in Manurewa on Oct 3, 2020. Photo / Supplied

A man convicted of manslaughter after he and a friend dropped a 7kg brick on the head of an unconscious stranger and kicked him repeatedly in the head will be deported to Samoa.

Simon Tavita was found guilty in the High Court following a trial into the death of Nigel Fuatimu in Manurewa’s Jellicoe Park in 2020.

The Crown case was that Tavita and co-defendant Issac Ramese-Stanley dropped the brick on Fuatimu’s head, and then repeatedly kicked him in the head.

The pair denied using the brick as a weapon and were acquitted on charges of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.

Tavita was sentenced to four years and four months imprisonment for his role in the offending.

Emergency services at the cordon of Manurewa's Jellicoe Park, where Nigel Fuatimu died in October 2020. Photo / Hayden Woodward

He was released on parole in June last year and, a few weeks after his release, was served with a notice of his liability for deportation.

Tavita had previously been on notice, with his deportation liability suspended for two years after a drink-driving conviction in 2019.

The condition of the suspension was that he didn’t commit any offence, or receive a conviction for an offence, within that two-year window.

He recently appealed his renewed deportation liability on the grounds of exceptional humanitarian circumstances, citing his family connections in New Zealand.

The Immigration and Protection Tribunal also heard Tavita had addressed his alcohol and anger issues while in custody and had been sober since 2020.

Nigel Fuatimu, 21, died at Jellicoe Park in Manurewa on October 3, 2020. Photo / Supplied

Tavita now uses mindfulness techniques to deal with stress and anger, attends church and Bible study regularly, has a strong support network in New Zealand, and has been in fulltime employment since last year.

He told the tribunal he “deeply regrets and is remorseful for the harm caused by his poor decisions and alcohol use”.

The death of Fuatimu in the park was a “horrible accident” and he took full responsibility for the pain and loss to the victim’s family, the tribunal’s decision noted.

Tavita’s lawyer for the deportation appeal, Michael Kim, had submitted that the manslaughter offending was “alcohol-fuelled and spontaneous, not pre-meditated”.

He was at low risk of reoffending, and Kim said deportation would “profoundly affect” Tavita’s family in New Zealand.

Police speak with a witness near Jellicoe Park on the night Nigel Fuatimu was found dead. Photo / Hayden Woodward

The tribunal accepted it would be “challenging and difficult for him to relocate to Samoa after living in New Zealand since 2017, even though he has family support in Samoa to find accommodation and work”.

It also accepted that while it would be difficult for his family to relocate, they would have family support once there.

However, the tribunal recognised that should Tavita’s family remain in New Zealand, the separation from Tavita would be difficult.

For those reasons, it did accept there were exceptional humanitarian circumstances.

However, the now 27-year-old’s offending was serious enough that it did not mean deporting him would be “unjust or unduly harsh”, and it outweighed the humanitarian circumstances, the tribunal ruled.

“The appellant’s manslaughter offence was a serious crime involving the death of the victim, which he committed three years after arriving in New Zealand,” the decision stated.

The tribunal noted the comments of the judge who convicted and sentenced Tavita.

There had been no mitigating features accepted by the judge, only aggravating, and Tavita had repeatedly targeted the head and neck area of a man lying unconscious.

“Kicking someone in the head and neck while they are lying on the ground in an unconscious state and obviously entirely defenceless is an inherently violent, cowardly and dangerous thing to do,” the judge said at sentencing.

“Forceful blows to the head and neck can have fatal consequences as happened here, and I consider that this was clearly a very violent attack ...”

While Tavita’s bid to remain in New Zealand was declined, the tribunal did leave a door open for him to return for visits.

It removed a “prohibition on entry to New Zealand” that would typically apply after deportation.

“The reason for this order is to allow the appellant the opportunity to apply for a visa in the future to visit his [family] in New Zealand, should the need arise.”

The tribunal noted that the outcome of any such application was for Immigration New Zealand to decide.

Tavita’s deportation was delayed for three months to allow him to get his affairs in order.

Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.