Jury took one hour to find hammer attacker Niraj Prasad guilty of murder

Niraj Nilesh Prasad was found guilty of murder by a jury after a retirement of one hour.

A jury took just one hour to find Niraj Nilesh Prasad guilty of the hammer and knife murder of the man who had formed a relationship with his ex-wife.

The Crown said the attack was the culmination of six months of "pent-up rage and aggression" after the end of his marriage.

Justice Rob Osborne gave him a warning under the three-strikes system and remanded him in custody for sentencing on May 20.

Family and supporters were in tears after the verdict was delivered.

Justice Osborne thanked the lawyers for the way the trial had been conducted. He also thanked Prasad for the way he had conducted himself during the one-week trial in the High Court at Christchurch.

Prasad, 39, had denied murdering Fijian-born Faiz Ali in a hammer and knife attack on February 21, 2021.

The jury retired to consider its verdict at 11am, when Justice Osborne completed his summing up. It announced after one hour's retirement that it would return to court to deliver its verdict.

The Crown had alleged that Prasad lay in wait at Ali's apartment in Armagh St.

Neighbours saw him covered in blood and holding a hammer as he left the scene of the homicide. He told one of them: "I won't harm you. That man was having an affair with my wife."

Prasad did not give evidence in his defence, but counsel James Rapley QC pressed the jury in his closing address to accept a self-defence argument. He said Prasad had not intended to kill Ali but had got the better of the struggle when a fight began.

He pointed to forensic evidence of blood in the hallway and the bedroom and damage to both men's clothing, indicating that there had been movement before Ali received the head injuries that would have rendered him immobile.

He reminded the jury that Prasad said to police: "He came at me. He was shouting and fighting with me." One neighbour heard sounds of a struggle, describing it as "noises like pushing or shoving, or hitting each other".

The Crown rejected the idea of self-defence, saying that Ali was not armed because the knife that Prasad said the victim had, was never found. Self-defence also required a proportional response, said prosecutor Barnaby Hawes.

In fact, Ali received 38 wounds from the hammer and knife, which caused "plainly visible catastrophic head injuries" and would have continued when he was defenceless, dying, and perhaps even dead.