Waikato Herald
  • Waikato Herald home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Locations

  • Hamilton
  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Matamata & Piako
  • Cambridge
  • Te Awamutu
  • Tokoroa & South Waikato
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Weather

  • Thames
  • Hamilton
  • Tokoroa
  • Taumarunui
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Waikato News

Hamilton stabbing: 16-year-old guilty of manslaughter, 14-year-old acquitted

By Belinda Feek
Reporter·NZ Herald·
11 Oct, 2018 02:27 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Norman Kingi died after being fatally stabbed in the heart. A jury has today returned its verdicts in relation to the two murder accused. Photo / Supplied

Norman Kingi died after being fatally stabbed in the heart. A jury has today returned its verdicts in relation to the two murder accused. Photo / Supplied

A Hamilton teenager has been found guilty of unlawfully killing a 54-year-old after a brief, but fatal, confrontation during a car break-in.

However, a jury in the High Court at Hamilton did not find the 16-year-old guilty of murder, but guilty of the manslaughter of Norman Kingi on July 28 last year.

Her 14-year-old co-accused was found not guilty on both charges.

Kingi and his partner Vicki Lee Reihana busted the two girls, and a 12-year-old girl, breaking into their car which was parked outside their home on Ranui St on July 28 last year.

After a brief confrontation the older girl stabbed Kingi in the heart with a knife before fleeing with the 14-year-old.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The 16-year-old, who wiped back tears after the verdicts were read, admitted stabbing him but unsuccessfully claimed it was self defence.

But the jury found otherwise, and although deciding she did not have murderous intent, they agreed she killed Kingi unlawfully by way of stabbing.

The public gallery remained quiet as the verdicts were read.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The jury was sent to begin their deliberations at midday before returning three hours later with their verdicts.

Earlier, Justice Timothy Brewer explained how self defence worked in terms of the law.

He told the jury of five men and seven women they had to put themselves in the shoes of the accused and whether she was justified in stabbing Kingi.

Not only that, if they did find it was a justified action, they then had to decide whether the degree of force was reasonable given the circumstances the accused believed them to be.

Her defence counsel, Ron Mansfield, submitted that she felt Kingi was a threat – he was drunk, angry and advancing on her and her instinctive reaction to protect herself was to pull out the knife and stab him.

However, the Crown said the accused's actions were not reasonable and Kingi was simply in her way when she tried to rescue her friend, so stabbed him out of anger, rather than fear.

The older accused had options that night, including running away either before or after the younger accused hit Kingi on the head with a screwdriver or pulled the knife and simply threatened him with it, rather than plunging it into his chest.

As for what was a reasonable amount of force, that could only be decided by the jury, the judge said.

As she was charged as a party to murder, the younger accused could not be found guilty of a more serious charge than her co-accused.

She is also subject to special legislation involving young people - aged 10 to 14 - which has a special clause stating they also had to be sure she knew her actions were "wrong or contrary to the law".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Her defence counsel Roger Laybourn submitted she was not guilty of either murder or manslaughter as not only was she too young to comprehend what was happening, she had only met her co-accused that night and she was standing about 2m behind her when the stabbing took place.

The 16-year-old was convicted by Justice Brewer and remanded in custody for sentencing in December.

In light of the verdicts, the 14-year-old was granted permanent name suppression by the judge. The older accused had her interim name suppression carried over until her next appearance.

Kingi's family declined to comment outside court, but through Detective Inspector Graham Pitkethley they said they accepted the jury's verdicts and were just pleased that someone had been held to account for his death.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Waikato News

Waikato Herald

McDonald’s buys $8m landmark church to turn into restaurant

Waikato Herald

'He's been made to look like a monster': Grieving Mongrel Mobster mum's heartache

Sport

All Blacks v France third test: All you need to know


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Waikato News

McDonald’s buys $8m landmark church to turn into restaurant
Waikato Herald

McDonald’s buys $8m landmark church to turn into restaurant

Maccas returns to Hamilton CBD after 30-year hiatus.

18 Jul 07:12 AM
'He's been made to look like a monster': Grieving Mongrel Mobster mum's heartache
Waikato Herald

'He's been made to look like a monster': Grieving Mongrel Mobster mum's heartache

18 Jul 06:47 AM
All Blacks v France third test: All you need to know
Sport

All Blacks v France third test: All you need to know

18 Jul 02:50 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Waikato Herald e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Waikato Herald
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP