Bad blood over meth sale: Alex Fausia admits killing Epsom man with a kick to the head

A Glen Innes resident who kicked a man in the head outside an Epsom hotel after a dispute over the quality of a recent methamphetamine purchase has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and meth supply.

Alex Fausia, 29, waved to supporters as he appeared before Justice Graham Lang in the High Court at Auckland this morning to enter the pleas.

Up until now, he has had name suppression due to a pending case in Auckland District Court.

However, the suppression lapsed this morning after defence lawyer Shane Tait told the judge that a guilty plea had also been entered to the district court case.

Fausia was already in custody, awaiting the manslaughter trial set for September. He will instead remain in custody until August, when he is expected to return to court for sentencing.

Authorities arrested Fausia and two others in April last year, one month after the death of 39-year-old Adrian Selwyn at Auckland Newmarket Hotel in Epsom, where he lived.

According to the facts of the case agreed to by Fausia, Selwyn had purchased methamphetamine from another man on the evening of March 7 last year.

However, he contacted the alleged seller 15 minutes later to complain about the drug’s poor quality.

The alleged seller then proposed a “one-on-one” fight, picking up Fausia and another man before returning to the hotel, court documents state.

“Come out,” Selwyn was allegedly texted as the trio arrived at the Manukau St property’s carpark, which was surveilled by CCTV.

“Mr Selwyn approached [the alleged seller], leaving a distance of about one metre between them,” court documents allege.

“[The alleged seller] assumed a fighting stance and clenched his hands into fists. Mr Selwyn stood with his hands at his sides and does not appear from the footage to indicate he intended to fight.”

But seconds into the conversation between the alleged seller and Selwyn, Fausia delivered the kick to Selwyn’s head.

“Mr Selwyn, who did not see or anticipate the assault and therefore did nothing to protect himself, was immediately knocked unconscious and fell backwards, hitting the back of his head on the pavement,” documents state.

“Mr Selwyn made no attempt to break his fall nor did either of the defendants.

“The group immediately approached Mr Selwyn and attempted to wake him.”

When he wouldn’t wake, the group took Selwyn to his room and left him on his bed before leaving in the same car, authorities allege.

Selwyn’s family requested a welfare check from hotel staff a week later after not hearing from him, at which point his body was found.

His death was determined to have been the result of a brain bleed caused by blunt force trauma to the head.

Police searched Fausia’s home on April 4 last year, finding 432 grams of methamphetamine in a red shoebox, nearly $17,000 in cash and 30 shotgun rounds.

Members of Selwyn’s family sat quietly in the back row of seats in the courtroom gallery during today’s brief hearing, each wearing black t-shirts emblazoned with the victim’s image and the words “justice4Ajae”.

Manslaughter and possession of methamphetamine for both carry maximum possible punishments of life imprisonment.

Fausia also pleaded guilty today to one count of unlawful possession of ammunition, which is punishable by up to four years’ imprisonment.

Fausia’s co-defendants maintain their not guilty pleas to all charges and await trial.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.