The fight occurred outside Calendar Girls in the Wellington Central Business District. Photo / Google maps
A new dad who was beaten to the point he ended up in ICU after a night out has been accused of becoming violent and starting fights when he’s drunk.
“It’s fair to say Mr Crosby, especially if you’re intoxicated, you can be very violent,” defence lawyer Karen Bailey put to the man while he was under cross-examination in the Wellington District Court today.
“I have been in the past yes,” Nicholas Crosby replied.
The Kāpiti man was out bar-hopping with his partner Renee Hunter and some relatives when he got into a fight with two men outside Wellington strip club Calendar Girls in July 2022. The couple were out for the first time since their four-month-old daughter was born.
While he admits to throwing the first punch, Ielu Apineru and Henry Atoni are on trial for injuring Crosby with reckless disregard after allegedly going well past the point of self-defence, reigning down blows while he lay bloodied and defenceless on the ground.
His injuries were so bad Crosby ended up needing to be resuscitated on the way to hospital where he spent three days in ICU.
Prosecutor Harriet Farquhar concluded the crown’s case today with several witnesses, including Crosby, giving evidence.
Crosby told the court he couldn’t remember much of the night after the fight erupted, only “glimpses” up until he awoke in the intensive care unit.
Crosby described waking from what he described as a “coma” in the hospital with tubes inside of him – he was discharged three days later.
He had experienced “seizures” after the fight, at the hospital and months after the incident.
Evidence presented to the court today showed various brain scans had returned normal results and Farquhar said the episodes were not epileptic but likely due to psychiatric stress. Crosby said the episodes were scary for his family, and himself.
It was during his cross-examination that Bailey suggested he had a history of “starting fights” and had been convicted on a number of violent offences and sentenced to prison in the past.
Atoni’s lawyer Craig Smith also put it to Crosby he was violent when drunk, and his previous offending had occurred when he was intoxicated.
“I’ve made some bad decisions in my past, yes,” Crosby said.
Smith also presented images of his client who had suffered injuries during the fight including what looked like bite marks and bruising around his eyes from alleged gouging.
Crosby’s brother Jacob, who gave evidence via an audio-visual link from Northland, told the court he “pretty much just ran outside” and became involved in the incident when he was told his brother was in a fight outside the club.
“I kind of just went flying in there I didn’t try to talk, it all happened pretty fast for me,” he said.
“My intention was to just get one of them away from him. He was covering his head and I knew he was in danger with Nick being on the ground. He’s not an easy man to put on his back.”
One police constable, who was on a night shift when the fight broke out, told the court he and other colleagues saw the incident from afar while in a patrol car nearby.
When they rushed to attend the incident, he saw Crosby lying on the ground, not moving, arms outspread, and his face covered in blood.
He said when he went to check for signs of life Crosby let out a breath and, because he was covered in blood, a splatter was discharged on him, with some blood getting in his mouth.
When Crosby regained consciousness, he was aggressive and attempted to fight police. Several police witnesses said this may have been because the last thing Crosby was doing before he was knocked out was engaging in the fight with the two men.
Crosby was said to dip in and out of being “combative” to an unconscious state where he would uncontrollably shake. The blood was cleared from his face and it was observed he was bleeding from his ears.
Another said he heard a woman scream at one of the men “You did this, you’re an animal, all of this happened because of you”.
Police interviews of both defendants were played to the court today. Both said they had been out drinking with their rugby team and were on the way to get food when “words” were exchanged and the fight broke out.
Both men admitted to administering multiple punches but claimed it was in self-defence.
Atoni said during his interview he had been bitten and couldn’t see clearly from one of his eyes because it had been gouged.
It is still not known if Apineru and Atoni will give evidence as their lawyers are set to open their case tomorrow morning.
Hazel Osborne is an Open Justice reporter for NZME and is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. She joined the Open Justice team at the beginning of 2022, previously working in Whakatāne as a court and crime reporter in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
The 23-year-old appealed his sentence saying jail would hinder his ability to be a dad.