Teen 'killed gay lover in robbery'

A quiet stamp collector died following a "murderous" knife attack by a youth he was in a casual homosexual relationship with, the Crown said in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

Robert John Hunt, 55, was stabbed and cut 42 times in his Ellerslie home on July 9 last year in what prosecutor Jonathan Down described as a vicious, brutal, unprovoked killing.

Dick Faisauvale, who was 18 at the time of the attack, denies murdering Mr Hunt but has acknowledged manslaughter through his lawyers.

Mr Down told the jury that while Mr Hunt's sexuality would be an unavoidable feature of the trial, it should not conclude that the case was all about sex.

"The motive for this killing appears to be robbery," Mr Down told the court, though he said it was likely the jury would find that sexual issues might well lie behind Faisauvale's mental state when he killed Mr Hunt.

He told the jury that the evidence would dispel any defence suggestion that the attack was a spur-of-the-moment action and a loss of self-control due to an unwanted sexual advance by Mr Hunt.

Mr Hunt, said Mr Down, was not in any way to blame for the events leading to his death. "His death was brought about by his deadly friendship with Dick Faisauvale."

Mr Down said that the pair had developed a casual sexual relationship. Mr Hunt would call Faisauvale on his cellphone, then pick him up in Otara.

He said that on the fateful night, Faisauvale told a colleague he was going to "smash his friend dead" and steal his television, DVD, stereo and his Honda Integra car.

He allegedly told his friend, who saw him with a knife, that he was taking the weapon "just in case".

Mr Down said Faisauvale was "hell bent" on seriously harming Mr Hunt.

Mr Down said that as the unsuspecting Mr Hunt watched television in the lounge, Faisauvale put on a pair of Mr Hunt's new gloves in another room, and slipped the knife up his sleeve. He then launched an "unprovoked, murderous attack" on Mr Hunt while demanding property from him. He then left his friend for dead, driving off in his Integra.

Mr Hunt made two unsuccessful attempts to call the emergency services around 9.45pm. About four hours later he was found dead by his flatmate, still holding the phone.

Mr Down said that Faisauvale took the registration plates off the car in an effort to disguise it and keep it.

But friends and family persuaded him to return the vehicle the following night in an effort, Mr Down said, to show that robbery was not the motive.

Mr Down said two witnesses who helped Faisauvale dispose of the knife, bloody clothes and his cellphone, had been given immunity from prosecution as accessories after the fact.

Mr Down said Faisauvale told various stories to friends and family, and said Faisauvale told a friend that Mr Hunt had made an unwanted sexual advance and Mr Hunt was going to rape and physically attack him.

He was said to have told this friend that he beat Mr Hunt with his fists, making no mention of any knife.

Mr Down said that three days after the killing the police were told by Faisauvale's family that he was the person responsible and he was planning to flee the country.

He was arrested at Auckland Airport, about to board a flight for Samoa.

Mr Down said if the jury had any doubt Faisauvale meant to kill Mr Hunt, the Crown relied on two other "murderous intents" - that he was reckless whether Mr Hunt died and that the killing occurred in a robbery.

The trial is due to run until the end of next week.