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Warning: Distressing content
The street-party atmosphere in an East Auckland carpark had already turned violent - with multiple revellers exchanging blows - when teen gang member Soldier Huntley rolled up in his silver Mercedes-Benz, jumping out with a 30cm kitchen knife and joining the fray.
Within minutes, three strangers would be stabbed by Huntley - one fatally. The then-17-year-old then filmed himself laughing as he posed with the murder weapon next to one of the victims.
New details of the fracas on November 13, 2022 have been released to the Herald after Huntley pleaded guilty to murder late last week.
A crowd of about 50 people had gathered in a carpark along Lady Fisher Pl in East Tāmaki early that morning to celebrate Samoa’s Rugby League World Cup success. The semifinal featuring the team had barely begun when fights started to break out about 3.45am, according to the agreed summary of facts for Huntley’s charges.
Among those involved in a fight with another group in the carpark were Taeao Ola, 26, and his cousin, Reupena Tomasi. Although not initially involved in the dispute, Huntley approached and stabbed Ola’s cousin in the abdomen, causing him to fall 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,” court documents state.
As fellow members of his Fitus street gang arrived with a semi-automatic rifle, Huntley approached Ola and stabbed him in the heart - a wound that eventually caused his death.
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.
“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.
“Haha, this what happens, dox,” Huntley said on the video, holding the knife with Ola’s stab wounds visible in the background. “You don’t f*** around in the hood aye, this is what happens. Mate Ma’a, f***ing Ota-Blue and s***.”
Teenager Soldier Huntley has pleaded guilty to having stabbed three strangers, killing one of them, in November 2022 during a Rugby League World Cup celebration in a carpark at East Tāmaki, Auckland. Photo / Google
Police would days later find the deleted video on Huntley’s phone, along with two photographs of the bloody knife, while executing a search warrant at his Ōtāhuhu home.
In the notes folder on his phone, police found what appeared to be rap lyrics written two days after the incident in which he bragged of murdering a Samoan.
“Imma live Like a king in the ground is where u rotten,” the lyrics ended.
Police also confiscated his shoes, finding blood drops on them that were later analysed and determined to have very likely been belonging to the third victim.
Huntley was charged as an adult and was set to go to trial for murder in April. During an arraignment hearing on Friday, he instead pleaded guilty to Ola’s murder and two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to the other two stabbing victims.
Co-defendant Vaenuku pleaded guilty earlier this year to assault with intent to injure.
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.
