Court documents reveal Wickliffe-Heta had been celebrating his birthday in Hamilton the day he died, on December 29, last year.
The 24-year-old had been celebrating with friends and family. The woman was also there and the pair began fighting, verbally before they started pushing each other.
She decided to leave and was picked up by relatives and headed home to cook herself a meal.
About 20 minutes later Wickliffe-Heta arrived in a “highly agitated state” and began banging on the back door so loudly she eventually opened it because she was worried he would break a window.
The woman messaged a relative on social media to let her know Wickliffe-Heta had arrived and shortly after the relative called her.
Wickliffe-Heta left the room before returning and assaulting her by dragging her from the table where she was talking, and onto the ground. The woman asked for help as Wickliffe-Heta repeatedly hit her.
The woman hit him back and the pair moved around the lounge when Wickliffe-Heta used a metal chair to hit her in the lower back.
He then got on top of her and started strangling her but she was able to squeeze his testicles and get away.
Meanwhile, the woman’s relatives headed to her house, telling her to “keep him there”, “tell him to wait there”, and “I am coming”.
The woman tried to run outside but Wickliffe-Heta grabbed her by the leg to stop her, then pulled her hair and dragged her to the front doorstep.
However, after getting to the step, she kicked out backward, broke free from his hold, and returned to the house.
She then armed herself with two large kitchen knives and went to the front door where the pair began yelling at each other.
Wickliffe-Heta moved up to the door as the woman turned and went inside.
He grabbed her by the shoulder and during the scuffle that followed she stabbed Wickliffe-Heta once, in an upward motion, with one of the knives piercing his chest, slicing his heart and liver causing massive internal bleeding.
Wickliffe-Heta ran outside to the letterbox while the woman followed him still holding the knives as the angry argument continued.
He then walked away, crossing the road, just as the woman’s relatives turned up and all three chased after him.
Wickliffe-Heta went down a driveway and over a fence before falling and becoming unconscious.
The woman and her relatives went back to her property and the knives were placed under the front passenger seat of their car.
They then left but were stopped by police and the knives, one of which had blood on it, were found.
Wickliffe-Heta was later found by a member of the public, having died sometime earlier.
Officers dealing with the woman that evening and the following day noticed she had bruising to her face and was uncomfortable while walking.
Examining the property, police found upturned furniture and pot plants, a broken television, a smashed window, drops of blood by the front door and on the door frame, and a substantial amount of blood on the footpath on the opposite side of the street that he had crossed to.
The trail of blood led to where Wickliffe-Heta’s body ultimately lay.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.
