Slain man tried to phone for help

Stricken stamp collector Robert John Hunt made two vain attempts to call the emergency services for help, a murder trial in the High Court at Auckland has heard.
But it appears that he was too injured to speak.

The 55-year-old was stabbed and cut 42 times by 18-year-old Dick Faisauvale, who denies murder but whose lawyers have conceded manslaughter.

Telephone records produced in court show that Mr Hunt tried twice to phone 111 at 9.46pm on July 9 last year.

The first recorded zero seconds' connection. The second showed a connection time of 13 seconds.

In a statement to the court, Telecom's manager of emergency services strategy and operations, Paulette Hoyland, said that 68 per cent of emergency calls were not genuine.

Calls were answered by customer service professionals provided by Sitel New Zealand who determined what service a caller required.

She said that in cases where a caller was not clear or coherent, the call was forwarded to the police.

Where the caller did not speak, she said, the operator at call centres in either Palmerston North or Christchurch would repeat the request for information "111 emergency - fire, ambulance or police?"

Ms Hoyland said that if there was still no response from the caller, the operator would commence what is known as a "no speech call" procedure.

The operator would prompt: "If you require an emergency service, please press any key now and we will connect you to the police."

If a key was pressed, the call would be transferred immediately to the police. If no key was pressed, after five or 10 seconds the operator would repeat the previous instruction to the caller to press any key.

"If any key is pressed or if the customer service professional [operator] hears any background noise which may indicate the possibility of an emergency situation or request for help, noises such as sounds of a scuffle, coughing, moans, etc, then the call is put through to the police.

"If there is no background noise and the CSP [operator] is of the view the call is not genuine, the call will be terminated.

"A record is kept and the call is coded as false."