Harassment directed at our politicians is rising and more details emerge of the aftermath of a Sydney church stabbing. Video / NZ Herald / Getty / AP
Challas Nathan - stabbed to death in a heated confrontation with his “baby” brother - was known to zealously guard his “street rep”, willing to inflict sudden and sometimes extreme violence on anyone who challenged his “alpha” aspirations.
That is what another brother and the mother of Challas Nathan’s five children told jurors today as they were called to the witness box by the defence in the murder trial of 20-year-old Patuawa Nathan.
“He didn’t really have much respect for anybody else - even for himself, I think,” William Park, the oldest of the three brothers, said of victim Challas Nathan, who was 30 when he died.
“He was always wanting to be looking like that gangster.”
Park had dropped off a meal from Wendy’s and some beer at the Wattle Downs, South Auckland home where Challas and Patuawa Nathan lived on the day of the incident in October 2022, after realising it was Patuawa Nathan’s 19th birthday.
Park wasn’t there later that night when the celebrations flipped suddenly into violence, but the defence suggested his testimony about Challas Nathan’s history and aggressive personality was relevant because it gave insight into why their client reacted the way he did.
According to Patuawa Nathan’s interview with police that was played for jurors yesterday, Challas Nathan first got into an argument that evening with their father, over who was responsible for causing a cellphone to get wet.
The defendant joined the argument, he said, because he didn’t like the way their father was being disrespected.
The argument escalated when the defendant threatened to call probation so that Challas Nathan’s electronically monitored bail might be revoked, followed by Challas Nathan calling him a snitch.
The fight should have ended there, prosecutors have said, noting that Challas Nathan had walked away and into his room, shutting the bedroom door behind him.
But Patuawa Nathan followed after him, grabbing a butcher knife from the kitchen and yelling out that he would “f***ing kill him” before pounding on his brother’s bedroom door and yelling: “Come out!”, authorities allege.
In the police interview, Patuawa Nathan said that he simply wanted his brother to leave the house.
He brandished the knife, he said, only to keep his brother from attacking him as he tried to kick him out.
It was his birthday, he explained, and he was tired of taking beatings from the sibling.
When Challas Nathan opened the door he rushed at the defendant and into the knife’s blade like a bull attracted to a matador’s cloth, the defence has suggested, describing the death as either self-defence or an accident. He was stabbed a second time as the two tussled on the floor.
Challas Nathan, pictured, died of stab wounds in October 2022. His little brother, Patuawa Nathan, is on trial for murder.
In the witness box today, eldest brother Park explained that Challas Nathan could be dangerous in a fight. Because of his smaller stature, he would “do things faster and with no hesitation”.
“He expected to be spoken to with respect,” the eldest brother said, explaining that when someone made Challas Nathan “feel little” he would respond with verbal and physical attacks.
“I love him unconditionally, but that’s part of how he was, sadly,” he added, wiping away tears but continuing his testimony undeterred.
“As soon as he’s on that high path, there ain’t no stopping him.”
Park recalled growing up with Challas Nathan in poverty “amid a lot of gang life and negative energy”.
Park ended up becoming a patched Head Hunter, while Challas Nathan gravitated towards the Crips - eventually getting a large “C” tattoo on his face to show his allegiance and refusing to respond to family members who didn’t address him by his gang nickname.
“Being a part of a club, being a member, felt like God,” Park explained of his brother’s loyalty, which he said his brother would talk about incessantly even “if you didn’t want to hear it”.
“It felt like being part of a brotherhood, felt like you were loved. He felt like that was more family to him than we were.”
Patuawa Mihaka Nathan, 20, appears in the High Court at Auckland for his murder trial. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Defence lawyer Quentin Duff asked him to speculate how Challas Nathan might have responded to their youngest brother that night upon seeing the knife in his hand.
“He would have grabbed that knife as fast as he could - and he’d use it on you, anyone,” Park responded.
“Challas, he’s like a bully. If there was a knife pulled on him, there’s no turning back on it. One way in, no way out - that’s what he used to say.”
Park was followed in the witness box by the only other defence witness, Kaikohe resident Emmylou Sherwin, who was Challas Nathan’s ex-partner before a series of domestic violence incidents that resulted in his incarceration. She described her ex as a “very violent” man who had meted out beatings on her and on Patuawa Nathan in the past.
“He hospitalised me and practically held me hostage,” she said of Challas Nathan, adding that she had suffered “high anxiety” after he had tried to stab her.
“I’d say he wasn’t quite stable when that was happening.”
Patuawa Nathan, who lived with them in Northland for a time, intervened in domestic violence situations between them quite a few times, she said.
On one occasion when he tried to jump between his brother and Sherwin, Challas Nathan ended up jumping on top of his little brother and slamming his head against a fence, she testified.
She described another time when she said her partner appeared to have given his younger brother a concussion as they fought.
The brothers loved each other and they’d eventually apologise, she said. Her five children also loved their father, even if he wasn’t a good role model and wasn’t very interested in them, she added.
“There’s not a lot of good things my kids remember of him but he was around,” she explained.
Patuawa Nathan declined to testify on his own behalf. The Crown is expected to give a closing address, followed immediately by the defence, when the trial resumes tomorrow before Justice Paul Radich and the jury.
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.
