Jury convicts man of car murdering partner

Villiami Fungavaka has been convicted of murder.

After hearing eight weeks of evidence it took a jury just four-and-a-half hours to find a Northland man guilty of murdering his partner by running her over in his car.

The jury of six men and six women retired about 11.30am and returned at 4pm to deliver their guilty verdict.

During the trial they heard how Villiami Fungavaka, 47, drove his vehicle over Georgina Manuel, 28, twice in Kaitaia in August 2013. She died the next morning, after being flown to Whangarei Hospital.

Evidence was given that Fungavaka was seen striking Ms Manuel with his 1.7 tonne Holden commodore as she stood on Pukepoto Rd, Kaitaia, then doing a U-turn to run over her as she lay on the road.

Crown Prosecutor Bernadette O'Connor told the jury, Fungavaka and the victim's relationship was volatile and Fungavaka intentionally ran Ms Manuel over after an argument.

She told them medical evidence proved both a brain injury likely to have been caused by the first time she was first hit, and a liver injury, likely to have been caused the second time, were serious enough to kill her.

"If you're sure he deliberately ran her over at least one of the two times - he's guilty," Ms O'Connor said. Defence lawyer Greg Bradford has maintained throughout the trial that what happened was an accident. Ms Manuel had stepped in front of the car and it was dark.