Manurewa house fire death: Poi Tinei sentenced for murder of Teao Wiki

Poi Tinei appears for sentencing in the High Court at Auckland after pleading guilty to the murder of partner Teao Ida Wiki. Photo / Alex Burton

An Auckland man who caused the death of his partner by dousing her in petrol and lighting their bedroom on fire has been ordered to serve at least 18 years in prison after it was noted he twice before used fire to threaten or control the victim.

Poi Tinei, 51, was already well known to police - having been the subject of 15 family harm callouts in recent years - when officers and firefighters found the body of Teao Ida Wiki, 53, facedown in a bathtub inside Tinei’s Manurewa home soon after the blaze was extinguished last September.

While fleeing the housefire, the victim’s brother recalled hearing “thumping and slapping” sounds coming from Tinei’s bedroom along with the victim calling out “Help!” and “Momma, momma!” The defendant would later be seen “mingling with the crowd” outside, appearing to hamper efforts to extinguish the flames even as his own mother was trapped inside, court documents state.

“While it is correct your offending was not premeditated, it was not out of the blue,” Justice Mathew Downs said as the defendant appeared in the High Court at Auckland for this morning’s sentencing hearing, four months after he pleaded guilty to the murder charge. “You appeared to use fire as an instrument of control.”

He ordered a life sentence with a minimum period of imprisonment of 18 years before Tinei will be able to apply for parole.

Wiki, who was known by the nickname Lumpy, was described by five of her eight surviving older siblings today as a kind-hearted and loving mother of four who lived for her grandchildren and who had 400 mourners attend her funeral.

“Lumpy died in horrendous circumstances that no human should have to go through,” one sister said through tears during her victim impact statement as the defendant stared straight ahead stonefaced, not looking in her direction. “I am tormented at the thought of what she endured.”

Many siblings described through tears the “intrusive thoughts” that still torment them on a regular basis about the defendant’s “monstrous actions” and what their sister’s last moments would have been like.

“It disgusts me to think he was the last person she saw alive,” another sister said, adding that she hopes the defendant is also tormented with memories of that night. “He is a selfish coward who deserves nothing because he is nothing.”

Teao Ida Wiki, better known as Lumpy, was found dead in September 2022.

Authorities noted in an agreed summary of facts for the murder case that Tinei and Wiki had been an on-again-off-again couple for about three years, but their time together had been marred by frequent allegations of domestic violence.

Of the 15 police callouts, all of which involved allegations of Tinei being the “predominant aggressor”, four resulted in criminal charges. Wiki had filed a protection order against Tinei the month before her death, but the couple had reconciled and were living together at the Kainga Ora home where the defendant lived with his mother and adult siblings, documents state.

On the night of September 17 last year, the couple had parted ways after getting into an argument at the Clendon Inn Bar. But Wiki returned to the house later that night and the defendant’s brother-in-law would later report to police that he had heard the couple arguing in their bedroom around midnight.

Sometime after that, “using a petrol canister that was in his bedroom, the defendant poured petrol over the deceased, the mattress and around the room, before setting it alight”, authorities said in court documents. The defendant’s brother recalled being woken up by a smoke alarm, seeing “smoke emanating from the edges of the defendant’s closed bedroom door” and hearing the thumping noises as he escaped the blaze through the carport door.

The brother ran back inside the home with two good Samaritans after realising no other family members had made it out.

Once inside the still-burning building, he saw that the door to Tinei’s room was now open. He rescued their mother and checked the other rooms in the house but his efforts were hampered by the fire and smoke, court documents state. Meanwhile, the defendant had made his way outside and was making no attempt to check on his family members, according to the summary of facts.

“The defendant refused to assist members of the public and [his brother-in-law] as they tried to douse the fire using a garden hose, and appeared to try to hinder their efforts,” authorities noted in the summary of facts.

“Emergency services arrived, during which time the defendant was repeatedly asked to confirm if there was anyone else inside the house. The defendant ignored them and was non-engaging. When he did provide a response, it was different each time.

“At no point did he alert emergency services staff to the fact that the deceased was inside and unaccounted for. The defendant was evasive and began mingling with the crowd of bystanders that had assembled.”

Tinei was later taken to hospital with severe burns to his feet, legs, back and neck.

Police and Fire services searched the Manurewa house and found Teao Ida Wiki's body. Photo / NZME

Later that day, police searched the address alongside Fire and Emergency NZ. They found Wiki’s body in a bathtub next to Tinei’s bedroom. A post-mortem examination later found soot in Wiki’s lungs, suggesting she had been alive at the time of the fire, and a large bruise over her right eye.

“I draw the obvious inference the victim had tried to save herself by going into the bathroom,” Justice Downs said today as Wiki’s family gasped and wept in the crowded courtroom gallery. “You assaulted the victim by striking her in the head at about or shortly after setting her on fire.”

At hospital, where he was charged in a bedside court hearing, Tinei said he thought everyone had gotten out of the house. He declined further comment.

Crown prosecutor Henry Benson-Pope asked today for a minimum term of imprisonment of 18 and a half years, taking into account a one-year discount for his guilty plea but also the “brutality” of the murder and his history of violence against the victim. The details of the case and his history “place this in the category of the most serious cases that have come before this court”, he argued.

Defence lawyer Paul Borich, KC, agreed that a life sentence was necessary but argued that his client’s minimum term of imprisonment should be somewhere between 15 and 17 years.

“Any case involving burning is horrific, but it’s important perspective is kept,” he said, pointing out that cases involving burning deaths have also involved significantly more premeditation.

“Mr Tinei has always been genuinely sorry for what he had done. He cannot change it. All he can do is accept responsibility.”

Justice Downs, however, disagreed that Tinei’s case was less egregious. The other cases cited by the defence lawyer involved victims who were unconscious when they were set alight, he noted.

“Distressingly, Ms Wiki was not,” he said.

The judge outlined some of the defendant’s previous violence against the victim. It included a fight in September 2019, which resulted in Tinei’s convictions for arson and wilful damage after he threw a rock at the windscreen of Wiki’s car then doused the vehicle with petrol and set it alight. He was charged with wilful damage again in October 2020 after breaking every window of Wiki’s vehicle, and in January 2022 he was accused of sending her threatening messages, including a threat that he would burn down her house.

In the same month he was accused of assault after throwing a coffee table at the victim and of wilful damage for again breaking all the windows in her car. He was still on bail the Wiki was killed.

The judge also noted that Tinei was assessed as being a high risk of reoffending, and protection of the community was needed.

“Your actions continue to send waves throughout your own family, throughout the victim’s family and through the wider community,” the judge told the defendant. “That shock will endure for years.”

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.