Coskun Jaques Marius (left) is serving a life sentence for murdering Tane Tahi Manawa as he slept in his Surfers Paradise home in 2019. Photos / Supplied
Coskun Jaques Marius (left) is serving a life sentence for murdering Tane Tahi Manawa as he slept in his Surfers Paradise home in 2019. Photos / Supplied
An aspiring rapper jailed for the “brutal and cowardly” murder of a Kiwi man in his sleep was insulted over a perceived slight about lunch while he was hungry, a court has been told.
Coskun Jaques Marius has lodged an appeal against his conviction and sentence a year after he was jailed for murdering Tane Tahi Manawa, also known as Dre Nova, at a home in Surfers Paradise in 2019.
Manawa was fatally bashed by Marius, 30, with a metal pole while he slept in the Gold Coast home on May 10 that year.
At the time of his sentence, the court was told Marius beat the 38-year-old because he felt slighted over a comment made by the older man about how he enjoyed his lunch.
On Tuesday, Queensland’s Court of Appeal was told Marius’ legal team was being provided with the brief of evidence following correspondence over the last week.
Ngarangi “NG” Rangihuna, representing Marius, said a more senior solicitor would take carriage of the appeal for future appearances.
“Initially there was correspondence that was going to different people through Legal Aid,” Rangihuna said.
Coskun Jaques Marius has lodged an appeal against his conviction and sentence a year after he was jailed for murdering Tane Tahi Manawa, also known as Dre Nova, at a home in Surfers Paradise in 2019. Photo / Supplied
“One of the correspondences we had back was to make a right-to-information application.”
He told the court the original solicitor who had carriage of the matter had since reached out and all the issues were “resolved”.
Rangihuna asked for another adjournment into the new year before the matter could be set down.
Court of Appeal Justice Debra Mullins said the matter had been going on for “too long”.
“I’m going to set the matter down for review … it will only go ahead if it hasn’t been set down for trial,” she said.
Marius’ matter was adjourned to February 7 next year.
A jury found Marius guilty of Manawa’s murder in December 2023.
Crown prosecutor Michael Lehane said the reason for the crime was “quite trivial”, all because Marius was hungry and he was angry Manawa hadn’t shared his meal with him.
Marius was experiencing a withdrawal from drugs and had not eaten “for some time”.
“The reasons for this vicious attack were quite minor, a belief on the mistreatment of the victim towards him,” Lehane said.
“At the end of the day, the victim had just enjoyed a meal and the defendant was hungry.”
Coskun Jaques Marius (left) is serving a life sentence for murdering Tane Tahi Manawa as he slept in his Surfers Paradise home in 2019. Photos / Supplied
After the killing, Marius sold Manawa’s possessions for drugs and slandered the deceased’s reputation by calling him an alleged rapist, the court was told.
During the sentencing, Justice Glenn Martin said he was satisfied Marius had intent to at least cause Manawa grievous bodily harm when he picked up the metal bar from the garage.
He said the attack was “brutal, unflinching … [and] demonstrative of callous disregard”, in addition to not being generated by any perceived wrongdoing done to Marius.
“During the trial it was advanced through various means that you had been poorly treated, there was some evidence to support that, but I do not regard it to have any particular influence,” Justice Martin said.
“It seems that the catalyst for what you did was your view of what he did and his treatment to you, together with you being very hungry.”
