Fau Vake death: Daniel Havili sentenced for manslaughter in Auckland CBD attack

The 30-year-old who aimed what has been described as a "coward punch" at Fau Vake during an Auckland CBD attack resulting in the popular MMA fighter's death, has been sentenced to prison for manslaughter.

Daniel Havili was a peacemaker of sorts at various times of the incident, standing between the Vake brothers and Havili's three co-defendants, Justice Sally Fitzgerald pointed out before announcing his two years and nine months sentence today in the High Court at Auckland.

But it was the defendant's final blow that caused Vake to fall to the ground - hitting his head and causing a brain bleed that led to his death days later, noted the judge, who described watching CCTV footage of the altercation many times.

"Despite him facing you, he had no opportunity to avoid the punch," the judge said.

"You yourself were not threatened by him."

Vake, whose full name is Lifau Tu'iha'aingana Vake, was with sibling Ika Vake on Symonds St around 2.15am on May 16 last year when the confrontation occurred between them and four strangers, according to court documents.

Daniel Havili is sentenced before Justice Sally Fitzgerald at the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Michael Craig

Fau Vake was known for training alongside New Zealand's top martial arts fighters at City Kickboxing, but the brothers were outnumbered, authorities said. Fau Vake was taken off life support at Auckland City Hospital nine days after the incident.

The Vake brothers did not throw any punches themselves and were not the aggressors, prosecutors have repeatedly pointed out.

Havili also pleaded guilty to assaulting Ika Vake with intent to injure him. For that conviction, he was ordered to serve a concurrent sentence of 16 months' prison.

"You do have an anger management problem which is seriously aggravated by alcohol," Justice Fitzgerald said today, pointing out that he had previously stopped drinking but had picked the habit back up four months prior to the attack.

"The fact you were drunk was no excuse," she said.

"Sadly, most one-punch manslaughter cases involve young men who were out late at night drinking."

Crown prosecutor Claire Paterson agreed with the judge today that the attack was unprovoked.

Fau Vake died 23 May 2021 from injuries sustained in an attack on Symonds Street. Photo / Supplied

"He was in no way prepared for that punch," she said. "His hands were down by his sides."

Defence lawyer Louise Freyer apologised to Vake's family on behalf of her client and acknowledged his actions merited a term of imprisonment rather than home detention.

"Mr Havili is deeply remorseful and is all too aware of the grief and loss he has caused," she said.

"Clearly, what must have triggered Mr Havili was verbals between the two parties," she added.

"There clearly was aggressive talk."

That, however, would not constitute serious provocation, she acknowledged.

Three of the four people accused of having participated in the attack have so far pleaded guilty.

Ofa Folau was sentenced to six months of home detention in August. Neither he nor co-defendant Siofilisi Paongo, who pleaded guilty in February to assault with intent to injure and common assault, were responsible for the blows that resulted in Fau Vake's death, authorities have previously pointed out.

Fau Vake died 23 May 2021 from injuries sustained in an attack on Symonds Street.

Paongo didn't punch Fau Vake at all, instead assaulting his brother, defence lawyer Nalesoni Tupou said. He is set to be sentenced next month.

Charges remain pending against a fourth man. He pleaded not guilty and has elected trial by jury later this year.

As today's sentencing hearing began, a victim advocate read aloud a victim impact statement from Fau Vake's sister.

She described grabbing the first flight from Australia to New Zealand after being woken up by a call from her crying mother.

"Why would this happen to such a loving soul?" she asked. "His death was so sudden and uncalled for, which has made it so difficult to accept."

She described the pain of trying to explain her brother's absence to his four-year-old child.

"It's the sadness in her eyes when she looks around wanting to see her real-life superhero," she said, describing her brother as the "heart" of their family and someone who had worked hard to pursue careers in MMA fighting and being an electrician.

"He was taken away from us by a gutless act," she said. "The hole in our hearts can never be filled."

UFC champ Dan Hooker: Sentence a 'heartbreaking result'

The courtroom was crowded today with the Vake family and supporters, including MMA champs Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker.

"That's f***ing bulls***, man!" one person yelled out as Havili was led from the courtroom following the sentencing. "Bulls***!"

Outside the courthouse, Hooker explained the frustration among Fau Vake's friends.

"It's a heartbreaking result for our whole team," he said. "A two-year sentence for murder, that's completely unreasonable. I don't think there's any reasonable person out there who's not going to think that a law change is going to be necessary.

"To reach this point and not find any kind of closure is definitely difficult."

Without law changes, including tougher penalties for coward punches, attacks like that will keep happening, he predicted.

"It's not going to change," he said. "You can mark my words that this is going to happen again, and imagine if it was your son...who gets killed by a coward punch."

Hooker said he hopes the incident will serve as a catalyst for change. He would also like to see people with convictions barred from Auckland's CBD.

"I've been a fighter in the UFC for eight years. I'm not comfortable going out in Auckland CBD," he explained. "You wouldn't catch me in Auckland CBD - there's got to be a reason."

He also described Havili's single punch as calculated and worse than if he had thrown punches at Fau Vake earlier.

"He was patient, he waited, he timed that punch, he waited 'til Fau was relaxed," Hooker explained. "He waited 'til Fau wasn't looking and then he hit him with all of his might from the side and Fau fell down and died.

"I've seen the CCTV. He lined him up maliciously. If I was trying to kill someone, that's how you would do it. You would wait until they weren't paying attention and you would hit them from the side and let them fall. He got a discount for that, because he didn't punch him 100 times.

"That, to me, is far more violent than attacking someone and throwing 200 punches."