The fight outside the Mobil petrol station on Maniapoto St, Ōtorohanga, lasted just 39 seconds but was long enough to kill Te Kūiti father-of-six Anthony Bell. Image / Google maps
The fight outside the Mobil petrol station on Maniapoto St, Ōtorohanga, lasted just 39 seconds but was long enough to kill Te Kūiti father-of-six Anthony Bell. Image / Google maps
A jury has retired to deliberate the fate of two cousins charged over the death of Te Kuiti man Anthony Bell outside an Ōtorohanga service station.
Cousins Frank and Benjamin Sweeney have been on trial in the High Court at Hamilton for more than two weeks.
Justice Mathew Downs finished his summing up and sent the jury out to begin deliberations about 11.15am.
Frank has denied one charge of manslaughter, while Benjamin denied that charge along with charges of assault with intent to injure and assault with a weapon after the fight on Maniapoto St, outside the Mobil Service Station on October 2, 2021.
The incident lasted just 39 seconds and ended with Bell falling backwards onto the footpath after receiving a “tremendous blow” from Frank Sweeney.
The fight was the culmination of an earlier road rage incident after the two vehicles came across each other on State Highway 3, as they travelled south from Te Awamutu to Ōtorohanga, with claims of weapons being seen, items thrown from Bell’s vehicle and tail-gating.
The defendants argued they acted in self-defence as Bell got out of his ute armed with a hammer, while his brother Ethan Tumai, had a small screwdriver.
However, Philip Morgan, KC, dismissed the claim of self-defence as “nonsense”, stating it was a fight the pair, in fact, all six of the men, willingly took part in.
“Some might have been more reluctant than others, but it was a fight. All six of them.
“It’s not a case of men… finding themselves in a situation that they couldn’t avoid, fearing for their physical safety and taking whatever steps necessary to protect themselves, because these men willingly took part in a fight, to harm each other.”
The jury just needed to watch the footage from CCTV; even though there was no sound and was taken from a distance, to see “exactly what happened”, Morgan said.
Ben Sweeney put a helmet on before getting out of his vehicle and armed himself with a bottle.
He’s then seen approaching Anthony Bell who appears to stoop before Sweeney unleashes a “flurry of punches”.
“These are deliberate punches to the head of a man, and effective ones because they knocked the deceased to the ground.
Anthony Bell of Te Kuiti (right) died after a "tremendous blow" during a fight, sending him backwards onto the footpath outside Mobil Ōtorohanga. Photo / Supplied
“Mr (Ben) Sweeney gets down on the ground too and hits him again in the head.
“And then what does he do? He gets up… and he kicks him deliberately in the head.
“And guess what? He does it again, straight into this man’s head.”
Bell manages to get to his feet, and it’s a blow that Morgan alleges was delivered by Frank Sweeney, who can be seen on CCTV footage approaching the victim before he’s then seen falling to the ground, never to get up.
Morgan said it was either the impact of the blow or the impact of Bell hitting the ground - “it doesn’t matter which” - that injured his brain stem and stopped him from breathing.
Frank Sweeney’s claim he put both arms around his head and unintentionally struck Bell, was “nonsense”, he said.
Ben Sweeney said he was defending his brother.
“You know that he’s not acting in defence of himself… he gets out of the car, swaggers up to the white ute before anyone gets out of it with a bottle and a helmet on his head.”
He said it was Ben Sweeney’s purpose in delivering kicks to the victim’s head to inflict bodily harm, which amounted to applying intentional force, a factor the jury needs to decide in finding him guilty of assault with intent to injure.
As for the charge of assault with a weapon – a hammer – Morgan said the footage showed him striking it into the back of Bell’s brother, Victor Tumai, who was fighting a third man from the Sweeney’s group.
As for the manslaughter charge, they were jointly charged as Ben Sweeney had earlier inflicted blows on Bell before his cousin is accused of delivering the fatal punch which sent the Te Kūiti man to the ground.
Frank Sweeney’s counsel Julie-Anne Kincade, KC, said there was no intentional assault that day.
She said the cousins were simply driving between Ōtorohanga and Te Awamutu that day, “minding their own business”.
Her client pulled into the Mobil as he wanted to stop somewhere with security cameras so it could record what might happen.
Bell and his brothers were not hesitant about getting out of the car; Bell had a hammer and Ethan Tumai a small screwdriver.
There was only one interaction between Bell and her client, just before his fatal fall.
“It was a very fast-moving scene… the Crown must prove that there was an intentional assault.
“Frank Sweeney says there was not.
“What you have here falls way short of what is required so that you can be sure.”
Ben Sweeney’s counsel, Nick Chisnall KC, said the evidence from the trial showed the fragility of human life was tragic and pointless and avoidable but it was not a culpable homicide.
While his client admitted using the hammer, it was struck so lightly that Victor Tumai didn’t even notice he had been hit.
His client had seen Bell and Ethan Tumai with weapons in their vehicles and took a beer bottle to try and protect himself.
He had already given testimony about how he decided to strike Bell as he was nearly twice as big as him, 153kg, compared to around 80kg.
Bell dropped the hammer and Sweeney took the opportunity to get him before he could use the weapon on himself.
Sweeney then went back to Bell and grabbed the hammer off him so that he couldn’t use it on him.
He also reiterated that his client could only be found guilty of manslaughter if his cousin was too, as it was alleged the last blow from Frank Sweeney was fatal.
