A just verdict

The Herald reports:

A jury deliberating whether a young couple committed murder in a bizarre case involving a festering tenancy dispute and a hired armed “muscle” man dressed as a soldier have found the defendants not guilty. …

The court heard the 40-year-old had been hired to evict the couple by his landlady, Rebecca Allcock, who told him they owed rent money and were dealing drugs.

He expected to earn “big money” for the job, telling Allcock he might need to “rough them up a bit” to get them out, to which she responded: “I’m fine with that.” 

Faatoia drove to the couple’s townhouse on a motorbike armed with two blades, a wire garrote and rope, smashed his way into their bedroom and threatened them with a Bear Grylls “survival knife”.

But his plan to intimidate the couple backfired with tragic consequences when the boyfriend grabbed his own orange-handled hunting knife and plunged it into Faatoia’s neck.

As Faatoia suffered heavy blood loss from the wound, the couple dragged him outside on to a patio where they stomped and kicked him about his body as he lay face-down on the ground.

If you break into someone’s places with blades, a knife and a garrote then they have every right to defend themselves. I actually think the landlady should face charges for her role in what happened.

Though fatally injured and bleeding heavily from his severed jugular, Faatoia continued to fight and the two men fell struggling to the bedroom floor, where Faatoia punched and bit the boyfriend, Hamlin said. The woman then tried to grab Faatoia’s knife from his hand, cutting her finger in the process.

“She says she’s terrified. She thinks she’s going to be killed.” 

Faatoia wouldn’t die for several minutes and was still talking, mumbling about calling the “troops”. 

Fearing he was still a danger to them, the couple pushed the intruder out the sliding ranch door, where they beat him until he was no longer a threat.

While you certainly can argue that the couple should have ceased once he was not a danger, the evidence suggests what they did on the balcony didn’t kill him. Also if he is a metre 1.90 tall and 115 kgs, you can understand you want to make sure he is no longer a threat.

It is very sad that the guy died. But the landlady should never have hired him to rough the couple up, and he should never have broken into their house armed and threatening them.