Despite the large amount of blood at the scene, it wasn’t immediately clear to first responders how 33-year-old Rau Tongia had died until they rolled him over and found a wound in his back – later discovered to be from a shotgun.
She said Shayde Carolyn Weston had crept into Tongia’s room in the early hours of the morning and shot him in the back as he slept. Weston’s lawyer, Robert Lithgow, said Weston was never present at the shooting.
A paramedic who attended the scene gave a statement saying they’d received a code purple call, meaning someone was likely in cardiac arrest. In the statement read out to the court on Tuesday, the paramedic said they’d received reports that people at the scene could not wake Tongia and mentioned a possible head injury.
He said when he arrived at the scene there was a woman standing at the front door.
“The main thing that jumped out to me was her demeanour in that she didn’t really interact with us,” he said. “I say this, as we asked her a further question about where to go but she didn’t say anything further than ‘go upstairs’.”
When he arrived in Tongia’s room, he found the victim on the floor, with firefighters attending to him. Tongia’s shirt had been cut and defibrillator pads attached, but the machine had advised not to shock him and to do CPR instead.
The first firefighter on the scene gave evidence on Monday, saying even though he knew it was too late to save Tongia, he did not have authority to call off resuscitation attempts until the victim had been confirmed dead.
The paramedic described running his hands over Tongia’s body and under the sides of his back to try to find a wound to explain the large amounts of blood at the scene. He could see no obvious head wound.
When he eventually rolled Tongia over, he saw a “non-blood-producing” wound on his back.
Shayde Carolyn Weston is alleged by the Crown to have shot Rau Tongia in the back as he slept. Photo / Juan Zarama Perini
A second paramedic said in her statement today that when she arrived, the woman at the door “did not have any emotion on her face”. There was a boy in the house she thought was about 14, who she also said was quiet and did not appear “emotionally distressed”.
As they worked on Tongia, “no one in the house came to talk to us and let us know what had happened”, she said.
Another paramedic spoke of rigor mortis having set in before they called off first aid efforts.
An autopsy eventually revealed shotgun pellets and wadding embedded in Tongia’s body. The close range of the shot meant his body had “retained the impact” of the shooting, the Crown said during openings on Monday. The wound was initially thought to be a knife wound, Carter said.
Breeze Hunt-Weston is in court facing a number of charges. Photo / Juan Zarama Perini
Shayde Weston, Breeze Hunt-Weston, Louise Kelly Hume and Pania Ella Waaka all earlier pleaded not guilty to murder. Hunt-Weston has also denied an alternative charge of being an accessory after the fact to murder, and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
A fifth woman, who has name suppression, was due to go on trial too, but has withdrawn due to health issues, Judge Andru Isaac said. Two other people have already been sentenced in relation to their roles in Tongia’s death.
Shayde Weston is alleged to have been the one to fire the gun, while Waaka is accused of driving her to the scene, Hunt-Weston is accused of providing the car, and Hume is accused of arranging the firearm.
The incident was allegedly sparked by Tongia assaulting Weston at a birthday celebration.
Carter said the Crown didn’t condone Tongia’s actions, but “he shouldn’t have died for that”.
“The law doesn’t justify that killing.”
Pania Ella Waaka is one of four women on trial in the High Court at Wellington over Rau Tongia's death. Photo / Juan Zarama Perini
In opening addresses, the women’s lawyers outlined their defences to the jury.
Lithgow said Weston was not present at the shooting and that cellphone polling data showed her phone was not in the correct zone for her to have been there at the time.
Gretel Fairbrother said Hunt-Weston did not know anybody had taken her car that night.
Letizia Ord, acting for Waaka, said her client had no idea where she was going or why when she drove Weston to Tongia’s property that night, and would never have knowingly aided in a murder.
Louise Kelly Hume is accused of arranging the firearm for the alleged murder of Rau Tongia. Photo / Juan Zarama Perini
Shane Robinson, acting for Hume, said his client had no involvement in sourcing a gun for anyone, and that the accusation was “based on supposition, assumptions, and speculation”.
The trial, which is set down for eight weeks, continues.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
