Taylor-Jade Hira, 22, died in hospital of her injuries. Photo / Supplied
Warning: Contains distressing details
Video cameras on a house recorded a series of assaults on a woman who later died of an “unsurvivable” head injury.
Taylor-Jade Hira’s partner, Ranapera Taumata, is on trial in the High Court at Napier charged with her murder four years ago in Hastings.
The court was told on Tuesday that events at the Taumata family home early on August 15, 2019, were captured on video cameras at the front and back of the house, where the couple shared a sleepout.
The footage showed Taumata grabbing Hira, throwing her to the ground, kicking her at least once, and dragging her by the hair, Crown Solicitor Steve Manning said.
But he said the Crown case would be that Taumata assaulted Hira again inside the sleepout, where the cameras could not see, and this caused the “unsurvivable” head injury that led to her death.
“The Crown alleges that in inflicting those injuries he [Taumata] committed murder,” Manning told the court.
“You will see her walk in [to the sleepout], but you won’t see her moving again,” he told a jury of eight women and four men.
After the assaults, an unconscious Hira was taken in a car by Taumata and family members living in the house to the Emergency Department at Hawke’s Bay Hospital.
Clinical staff there arranged to have her flown to Wellington Hospital, where the 22-year-old’s life support was turned off three days later. She died on August 18.
Manning said a CT scan showed a traumatic brain injury. She also had fractures to her ribs, two vertebrae, and injuries to her back and limbs. An autopsy confirmed the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
Taumata, now 30, left his house by car on the night of the assaults and was later found by police in Auckland, after he exchanged texts with a constable, telling the officer, “I’m scared and lost, please help me”.
Taumata has been charged with assault with intent to injure, as well as with murder. He pleaded not guilty to both.
His counsel, Andrew Schulze, said it was acknowledged that Taumata’s actions on that night caused grief, loss, and tragedy. Taumata accepted he had caused Hira’s death.
“The issue for you is the issue of intent,” Schulze told the jury.
“The issue of intent must be considered at the time the injuries were inflicted.”
Schulze said Taumata had been assessed as having an IQ between 64 and 72. His low intellectual functioning meant he was slow to process information in real time.
The trial before Justice Christine Gryce is continuing.
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