Cockle Bay homicide: Auckland personal trainer stomped to death by romantic rival in love triangle, accused says

A man accused of murder alongside his childhood friend says the other man was solely responsible, stomping his love rival to death in a fit of rage that left him covered in blood.

Gregory Hart says Sean Hayde was so enraged by Wiremu Arapo’s meddling in Hayde’s blossoming new relationship that he kicked him to death in his lounge in Minerva Tce, East Auckland before burning down the home to destroy the evidence with Arapo’s body still inside.

Hayde and Hart are on trial in the High Court at Auckland, jointly charged with murdering personal trainer Wiremu Arapo on October 20, 2020 and perverting the course of justice by setting the fire. They each say the other was solely responsible.

Hart gave evidence on Thursday in his own defence. He characterised the killing as the culmination of tensions between Hayde and Arapo arising from Hayde’s blossoming relationship with a female friend of Arapo’s.

“It had been building for quite some time and I didn’t want any part of it,” Hart said.

Hayde is also charged with, and denies, assaulting, strangling and threatening to kill his former partner in the weeks before the alleged killing.

The jury has now heard the three versions of events they will have to weigh when they retire to consider their verdicts.

During the first two weeks of the trial, the Crown said the killing was the work of both men, the crescendo of rising tensions fuelled by a tangle of jealousies and resentments.

Gregory Hart, like Sean Hayde (not pictured), denies killing Wiremu Arapo. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Hart had moved into Arapo’s house in Minerva Tce but was a layabout flatmate, the jury heard, frequently behind in the rent and bills.

Arapo had met Hayde at a gym and was his boxing coach for a time. Hart met Arapo via Hayde.

Arapo was not shy about giving Hart a piece of his mind and Hayde resented Arapo’s treatment of his old friend, the Crown claims.

There were also tensions between the pair arising from Hayde’s new relationship with a female friend of Arapo’s.

Text messages shown to the jury show Hayde discussing attacking Arapo, urging Hart to move out so he could “kick his teeth out”.

Thursday was an eventful day in the trial, now nearing the end of its third week.

On Thursday morning, Hayde’s lawyers Julie-Anne Kincade KC and Emma Priest called their final witness, Hart’s former partner.

The woman, who was granted name suppression, said Hart had once become so angry that he strangled her during their relationship several years ago.

While his body was badly burned in the fire, forensic evidence showed Arapo died before it erupted, the jury heard.

An absence of carbon monoxide in his blood or soot in his throat showed he didn’t inhale any smoke. Burns to the inside of his skull suggest his head was fractured pre-fire.

Forensics also showed Arapo’s hyoid bone was broken, a fracture essentially only seen in strangulations or hangings because of the location of the bone and its mobility.

Hayde earlier set out his version of events. Hart was Arapo’s flatmate and the pair clashed over Hart’s failure to pay the bills and general laziness, it is alleged.

Sean Hayde on the first day of his trial. Photo / Jason Oxenham.

Hayde said Hart had grown incensed after Arapo suggested he seize Hart’s computer because of debts he was owed.

After a fight, Hayde said Hart then sat on Arapo, wielding a knife, and mentioned the fact they had both served in the army, saying “we’re meant to be brothers, we’ve served together”.

He then leaned down, kissed him and slid a knife into his neck. It was a version of events rubbished by one of Hart’s lawyers, Paul Borich KC, in cross-examination.

“I want to suggest to you that that is total nonsense,” Borich said.

“Did you get that from a film or something?”

Crown prosecutor Ned Fletcher took a similar view during his cross-examination of Hayde.

“The Crown position is almost every word you told us over the past two days is over-scripted nonsense,” Fletcher said.

The jury has heard that at the time of Arapo’s death, Hayde had recently entered into a relationship with a mutual female friend of Arapo’s, a woman called Jennifer.

It is a relationship the Crown says began as an affair while Hayde was still with the woman he is accused of attacking.

Arapo and the woman had been close though he was initially happy to play the role of matchmaker.

But he came to take a dim view of the romance as the relationship between him and Hayde deteriorated, compounded by the domestic violence allegations.

The Cockle Bay house was engulfed by a fire. Photo / Michael Howse

Hayde says he now knows Arapo and the woman had been together a couple of times, though claims he only came to know this after the fire. He and Jennifer remain in a relationship and she was in court on Thursday.

During his cross-examination of Hayde, Borich asked “Would you agree with me there was a bit of a triangle between you, Wiremu and Jennifer?”

Borich eventually had Hayde concede Jennifer did not initially disclose the fact of her earlier assignations with Arapo.

After he moved from the dock to the witness box, Hart described Arapo and Hayde once almost coming to blows when the trio, plus Arapo’s fiance and Jennifer, were having drinks about three weeks before the fire.

The day before he died, Arapo sent the first message he had sent to Hayde in a long while, referencing a comment by Hayde mentioning he had found his neighbour attractive.

It was a comment that irked Arapo.

“It’s Wiremu. Don’t f*** the neighbour. Jen’s my girl and I don’t want you to hurt her,” Arapo texted Hayde.

On October 20, Hart said he and Hayde went around to Arapo’s Minerva Tce home as that Tuesday afternoon turned to evening.

Hart said Hayde remarked he was “going to go have a serious chat to Wiremu”.

“At first I heard Sean say ‘what the f*** have you been saying to my Mrs?’”

He heard crashing noises then went to the lounge and saw Hayde and Arapo having a scuffle.

While they seemed to be at each other’s throats, Hart walked away, thinking they’d tire each other out after scrapping.

When he came back into the room he saw Hayde stomping repeatedly on Arapo, Hart said.

“I could see there was a lot of blood.”

Hart described asking his friend “what have you done?”

“I think he said ‘f*** this c***’,” Hart said.

“He didn’t seem to care, just in a rage.”

Hart said he then saw Hayde pouring petrol all over the lounge.

During her cross examination of Hart, Kincade asked him about a message he sent Hayde after Arapo had once again spoken to him his behaviour.

Messages obtained by police show Arapo’s growing frustration at how Hart would sleep most of the day, game much of the night and fail to pay bills.

“I’ll move in; n***** boy just had another one of his bullshit chats to me after u left,” Hart wrote to Hayde on October 20.

“That was about your failings wasn’t it, Mr Hart?” Kincade said.

“Because he’s having a go at you, isn’t he?”

Arapo eventually gave Hart notice to leave. Hart rejected Kincade’s suggestion he was furious at Arapo’s moves to evict him.

Kincade at one point had Hart admit he owned a book titled “How To Spot A Liar”, authored by a man with a surprisingly similar name - a former military interrogator called “Gregory Hartley”.

The trial continues.