Fateful, fatal night recounted

Viliami Fungavaka

A woman visiting a friend in Kaitaia saw a man standing on a woman and yelling for people to call an ambulance, a High Court murder trial has heard.

Charlotte Clark-Morunga told a jury in the High Court at Whangarei this week she thought the yelling and screaming she heard was a domestic-violence incident.

She gave evidence in the trial of Viliami Fungavaka, 47, who is accused of running over his partner and mother of two, Georgina Manuel, with his car during a roadside argument in Kaitaia on the night of August 20, 2013. He has denied a charge of murder, saying what happened to Ms Manuel was an accident.

Ms Clark-Morunga said she had gone to return a car she had borrowed from a friend when she heard a female yelling and screaming.

When she looked towards a dairy in Pukepoto Rd, she saw a man standing on top of a woman and Ms Clark-Morunga thought he was assaulting her. At that stage, she did not realise Ms Manuel had been run over. She also saw a car turn into Lake Rd at quite a speed and without braking. Ms Clark-Morunga described the night as "frantic, hectic, and crazy".

Campbell Linwood was staying at the Aranga Hotel in central Kaitaia when at 10pm on August 20, 2013 he had heard a vehicle revving, tyres squealing, a man screaming, then a sound of something hitting a fence. He had thought it was a domestic incident.

A work colleague had informed him the next morning of what had happened.

Ms Manuel was rushed to Kaitaia Hospital before she was flown to Whangarei Hospital where she died at 4.49am the next day from multiple blunt-force trauma injuries.

The trial before Justice John Faire is expected to last five weeks.