Witness tells of shot Kiwi's fight

Tiki Hunia, pictured with his grandmother Irihapeti Hunia, was known as a `gentle giant'. Photo / Supplied

A woman who saw the incident that led to New Zealander Tiki Hunia being fatally shot at a Jamaican hotel has described how he pounced on his attacker to protect his wife.

The American was on holiday with her boyfriend, who was also held at gunpoint and forced to hand over the contents of his pockets.

The 34-year-old, who did not want to be named, and her partner were fellow guests at the Mikuzi Guesthouse in the upmarket suburb of St Andrew in Kingston, the capital.

The pair were standing under a gazebo - where about 10 other people were sitting, including Mr Hunia and his wife Nickie-Jean, who were on a second honeymoon - to look at a map where there was light, when two gun-wielding men entered the property.

One of the gunmen started yelling asking if a man named Angelo was there before he pressed a gun against the stomach of the woman's partner and made him hand over US$30 and the keys to his guesthouse out of his pants pockets. Meanwhile, the other gunman approached Mrs Hunia and snatched the cellphone out of her hand, upsetting her husband.

"He got upset because he wanted to protect her so he jumped on the person and they just fell into the bushes in the garden and started to fight," the US woman told the Weekend Herald.

"At that point I just said, 'Okay, I have to get out of here.' So I ran. While I was running I heard shooting so I told the receptionist to call a police and then I went to hide myself.

"We were hiding in the room for a few minutes and then we walked out and his wife was frantically running around and looking for her husband."

She said they found Mr Hunia behind one of the cottages.

"He was lying on the gravel. He was wounded but he was still breathing."

The police arrived a few minutes later and the woman and three other people rolled Mr Hunia on to a blanket and carried him into the police car.

Mrs Hunia sat next to her husband and they were driven to the hospital, where Mr Hunia died.

The witness believed the intruders had staked out the property and planned the robbery because they struck minutes before a security guard arrived to start his shift. He was walking towards the guesthouse when he heard the gunshots.

Mr Hunia's mother, Gloria, said the gunman pistol-whipped her daughter-in-law in the head and she ran into the lobby to get help while her husband was wrestling with the gunman.

"She heard the two gunshots when she was in there. When she came back, my son was lying on the ground.

"She thought he was okay, [that] the gunshot had gone through his arm. But it had actually gone into the side of his chest and had pierced his lung."

A brother and an uncle of Mr Hunia, who was originally from Te Teko in the Bay of Plenty, arrived in Jamaica yesterday.

Also yesterday, family and friends paid tribute to the man they called a "gentle giant".

Kara Warren flatted with Mr Hunia in Hamilton - where he met his wife while at Waikato University - and attended his wedding. "I can't help but smile and remember the good times. That's what is getting all of us through."

Mr Warren said Mr Hunia treated all his friends as if they were his best mates. A tall man, "he could have been the enforcer or something like that but he chose to be a pleasant guy".

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said yesterday Jamaican police were no closer to catching the gunmen.

"Mr Hunia's death has been noted at the highest level by the Jamaican Government. We're in close contact with the family and we're providing consulate assistance to Mr Hunia's wife via the British High Commission in Kingston and via the New Zealand High Commission in Ottawa."

- additional reporting: NZPA