Teen gang member Soldier Huntley sentenced for South Auckland murder of semi-pro rugby player Taeao Ola

A 17-year-old gang member who randomly attacked a crowd of Samoa fans during a Rugby League World Cup celebration after he was “triggered” by the nation’s flag - and then filmed himself laughing as he posed with the murder weapon next to a dying stranger - has managed to avoid a normally mandatory life sentence due to his age.

Soldier Huntley, now 19, stood in the dock in the High Court at Auckland today as Justice Simon Moore instead ordered what he said was still a “heavy” sentence for the apparent hate crime: 16 years, with a minimum period of imprisonment of eight years before he can begin applying for parole.

Murder usually carries a sentence of life imprisonment with a mandatory non-parole period of at least 10 years unless found by the judge to be “manifestly unjust”. But Moore said his own assessment of what qualifies as manifestly unjust was limited by recent Court of Appeal and Supreme Court decisions regarding young murder convicts.

Court documents state Huntley arrived at a street-party atmosphere in an East Auckland carpark around 4am on November 13, 2022, as a group of about 50 revellers celebrated Samoa’s World Cup performance. Some fights had already broken out when the teenager jumped out of his silver Mercedes-Benz with a 30cm kitchen knife and joined the fray.

Within minutes, three strangers would be stabbed by Huntley, including young father and semi-pro rugby player Taeao Ola, who died from a single wound to his chest. Police would later find a video on Huntley’s phone in which he recorded the stranger, who was at that point unresponsive.

“Haha, this what happens, dox,” Huntley said on the video while holding the knife. “You don’t f*** around in the hood aye, this is what happens. Mate Ma’a, f***ing Ota-Blue and s***.”

“Mate Ma’a”, roughly translated, means “die for Tonga” and is associated with the Tongan rugby team, Justice Moore explained today as he reviewed the agreed facts of the case. “Ota-Blue”, the judge said, is a reference to Ōtāhuhu and either the Crips gang or the South Auckland suburb’s rugby league team - both of which have adopted the colour blue.

Days after the stabbings, when police searched Huntley’s home, they found a knife under his mattress and rap lyrics he had written on his phone boasting of killing a Samoan.

“Plainly, Mr Ola was a young man with huge talent who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the judge said today, describing the defendant as someone with “hostility” towards those of Samoan descent. “There was no provocation. There was nothing he did or anyone else did.”

But the judge also revealed today that the defendant was also Samoan, although he strongly dissociated with his heritage due to his traumatic upbringing. He instead self-identifies as Tongan due to his friends who took him in and whom he considers family, the judge said.

‘Thoughtless and deeply offensive’

The judge described the attacks as “mindless, poorly thought out” and by any analysis “irrational”, followed by “thoughtless and deeply offensive actions afterwards” - no doubt the behaviour of a teenager with a not yet fully developed brain.

Court documents state Huntley first targeted Ola’s cousin, Reupena Tomasi, who was stabbed in the abdomen. He fell to the ground before retreating to a vehicle.

The wound was about 10cm long, exposing his intestines.

“Mr Huntley continued to challenge people in the carpark while raising the knife in his hand,” according to the agreed summary of facts for the case.

As fellow members of his Fitus street gang arrived with a semi-automatic rifle, Huntley approached Ola and stabbed him in the heart. Co-defendant Nigel Eva Kieneio Vaenuku, a fellow Fitus gang member, joined others in punching and kicking Ola in the head and body after he fell to the ground.

Teen murder convict Soldier Huntley appears in the High Court at Auckland for sentencing. Photo / Jason Oxenham

“Mr Ola managed to regain his footing, but collapsed shortly after,” court documents state, adding that Huntley later returned and kicked Ola as the victim’s brothers were trying to administer first aid.

Both co-defendants then turned their aggression towards a third man, Covette Tuaumu, who was punched and kicked while Huntley stabbed him multiple times in the head, neck, shoulder and hands.

Huntley then returned a third time to Ola, who at that point was unresponsive, and pulled out his phone to record.

Vaenuku pleaded guilty last year to assault with intent to injure.

‘So much pain’

Ola’s family filled the courtroom gallery at today’s hearing, as they have at previous appearances for the defendant. The group, many of whom wore remembrance shirts, quietly prayed together in Samoan before the judge took the bench and the defendant was escorted by security into the room.

‘”I truly feel so much sadness and pain that I can never make sense of,” Ola’s father said in a written victim impact statement that was read aloud by his daughter. “My son brought so much value to our family and his community.”

Ola, who was 26 when he died, was described as someone beloved not only by his family but in his church and among the rugby community. He had previously received an international rugby scholarship at a university in Japan and had participated in the sport on a semi-pro level.

Murder victim Taeao Ola, 26, was a family man and talented rugby league player, his family at the sentencing for Soldier Huntley.

Ola was also the father of a young son, now 4, who will someday have to be told about the brutal last minutes of his life, he said.

“We are heartbroken, sad, weak, lost and in so much pain.”

Ola’s cousin said in another written victim impact statement that he now rarely goes out after spending four months recovering from his own stab wound.

“When I lifted my shirt I saw some of my stomach coming out,” he recalled of the attack.

‘Act of madness’

Prosecutor Gareth Kayes and defence lawyer Jonathan Hudson made few comments during today’s hearing, with the judge stating he had already largely made up his mind based on a lengthy sentence-indication hearing in December. Hudson, however, said his client asked him to tell those in the courtroom that he was sorry.

Giving Huntley the benefit of the doubt, Justice Moore said the teen might not have realised Ola was dying when he took the video, given that Ola was earlier able to stand up after one of the attacks.

He noted the teen’s life so far has been marred by violence, depravation and neglect.

It included a mother who was addicted to methamphetamine and a father who was largely out of his life, sent to prison for an attack on Huntley’s mother that the child witnessed. There was another assault by gang members who his mother had brought to their home.

Despite all that, Huntley had never before been convicted of a criminal offence, the judge noted.

While in jail awaiting trial for the murder charge, the teen has taken numerous self-betterment courses and earned his NCEA Level 2 certificate.

“What you did that night was an act of madness measured in just a minute or two - maybe less,” the judge said. “The result is ... the life of a young man was snuffed out.”

That’s why he was to receive a “heavy” sentence that some might describe as “crushing for a man of your age”, Moore continued.

But he told the teen he still saw “significant potential for rehabilitation” in him.

“Do not let it crush you,” the judge said, encouraging him to continue improving himself while in prison so that he might eventually rejoin society “as a productive and contributing citizen”.

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.