Inspector Tracey Thompson on Newlands police shooting. Video / NZ Herald
A chaotic stabbing and vehicular assault at an Auckland party set in motion a chain of events that would end with Sam Fakalago dying in a hail of police bullets in Wellington.
Court documents obtained by the Herald reveal that last year Sam Fakalago attempted to obtain bail to the Newlands home of the same woman who would go on to watch him die.
The documents also shed light on the reason he was back before the courts last year, four months after being granted parole following another sentence for violent offending.
An Auckland Judge last year kept him locked up in part because of his history of "bullying and rageful behaviour" toward women in many of his 46 convictions.
Fakalago would go on to be released on electronically monitored bail in March this year by another Judge, absconding a month later from supported accommodation in Auckland and travelling south to the capital.
On June 7, while still on the run from authorities, he was shot by police after barricading himself in a home in the Wellington suburb of Newlands with a woman and her child.
Police say the 30-year-old was threatening the woman with a knife.
Sam Fakalago, shot by police in Wellington, making the hand sign of the King Cobras. Photo / Supplied
Police alleged that late one night in July 2021, he crashed a party in Mt Roskill, stabbed one reveller then hit two others with his car.
According to a judge's notes, police allege that without warning Fakalago stabbed a man from his car who had asked him why he was doing burnouts in the road about 3am.
The man bled profusely from his armpit and the woman whom he later hit with his car was flung into the air.
Fakalago died before he could face trial on one charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and two charges of assault with the intent to injure.
The police summary of facts said Fakalago claimed he wasn't at the party. He later pleaded not guilty.
Police at the scene of the home in Newlands where Fakalago was shot. Photo / Mark Mitchell
On September 2, 2021, Fakalago appeared before Judge Claire Ryan in the Auckland District Court seeking electronically monitored (EM) bail.
The Herald sought and was granted permission from the court to report the judge's reasons for denying him bail, usually prohibited under the restrictive publication rules in the Bail Act.
That same act required Fakalago to satisfy the judge that on the balance of probabilities he would not commit any offence involving violence or endanger anyone's safety while on bail.
Police opposed bail, Judge Ryan's notes show.
"One of their reasons why is that you have an extensive history and, in particular, they note the escalating violence for which you have been convicted over many years."
Fakalago, a longtime associate of the King Cobras gang, had 46 previous convictions, the majority of which were for violent offences.
They include two of assaulting police and several serious family violence offences, plus four of assaulting a partner with a blunt object.
Other convictions include obstructing the course of justice in a family violence case where he tried to dissuade a complainant or witness from giving evidence against him.
People on EM bail must wear an ankle bracelet tracker and live at a home approved by the court.
Fakalago proposed the home in Newlands with the woman who would later be with him when he was shot.
Judge Ryan's notes say the woman and Fakalago were formerly in a relationship and remained friends.
The woman, described in the judgment as "vulnerable", had been a victim of family violence but not at Fakalago's hands, Judge Ryan said.
Gang members performed burnouts before the funeral procession left Māngere for Fakalago's burial at Waikumete Cemetery in West Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell
Although the proposed bail address was a long way from the complainants in the Mt Roskill incident, that did not mitigate the risk Fakalago posed to others, the judge said.
"The allegations by the police are these people did not really know you, but they got in your way, they got in your face, you did not like what they did, and you exploded into rage.
"Even if that is not true, your bullying and rageful behaviour towards women throughout many years going right back to when you were a youth, causes me real concern.
"I do not consider that letting you loose into the community, into the care of a woman who herself is vulnerable, who has never lived with you, does not really know you but herself has been involved in a process of family violence, is appropriate."
Judge Ryan declined EM bail, saying she was not satisfied Fakalago would refrain from interfering with witnesses or committing further offences. He was again remanded in custody.
In March this year, he appeared again at the Auckland District Court via audio-visual link from Mt Eden prison.
There he made another application for electronically monitored (EM) bail, this time successful.
He was bailed to a home run by the Grace Foundation, a charity in Auckland supporting the most difficult-to-reach people charged or convicted of crimes.
Dozens of riders escorted a van carrying Fakalago's coffin after the funeral. Photo / Dean Purcell
Grace was founded by Dave Letele snr.
Letele snr was a Mongrel Mob president but turned his life around and started the foundation with his daughter in 2007.
Letele said Fakalago arrived at one of their houses in Auckland on March 22 this year.
Fakalago's funeral was held beside a police station in Māngere. Photo / Dean Purcell
"He was doing quite well until something to do with his children.
"And he just left on his own accord."
Sam Wimsett, Fakalago's final lawyer, said he only found out his client had left Auckland in breach of his bail conditions when news broke of his death.
"Sam was a friendly and easy-going client who was always extremely polite. You'll appreciate that this isn't always the case.
Fakalago was thrilled to be going to the Grace Foundation, Wimsett said.
