8 Jun 2018

Son who fatally stabbed father found not guilty of murder

6:22 pm on 8 June 2018

A man who fatally stabbed his father has been found not guilty of murder by a jury at the High Court in Auckland this afternoon.

Exterior of the High Court in Auckland

Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

The father had a string of convictions to his name, he'd spent time in prison and when he got out, he would regularly beat his wife and children.

In contrast, his son shunned his father's lifestyle, held down a regular job, loved his family and had never been in trouble with the police.

But that all changed on a night last year when his father came charging out of the dark and punched him in the face.

The court heard how the son stabbed his father six times. His lawyers said he acted in self-defence.

Today the jury returned verdicts of not guilty to murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter.

The son wept as the verdicts were read out before a public gallery packed with his family members.

After Justice Duffy told him he was free to go, he moved to the public gallery where he hugged his partner and their baby.

Justice Duffy told the jurors she had never presided over a trial with so much emotion.

The court heard how on the fateful day last year the father assaulted his wife.

An argument between the pair broke out after she found text messages from another woman on her husband's phone.

The wife told her husband that the woman was ugly.

He responded by telling her he would make her look ugly. He punched her in the face, kicked her while she lay on the ground and dragged her across the floor by her hair - all in front of their baby.

The wife managed to get free and make the half hour walk around to her son and daughter's home.

But the father followed.

He visited the house three times. On the first he assaulted one of his younger sons and accused him of stealing coins from his car.

On the third the family locked him out of the house as he banged on the door and tried to reach in the windows.

He was yelling threats, including that he would smash up his son's car.

The son said he picked up a knife out of fear that his father could break down the door.

But after being told the police had been called, the father finally drove off in his daughter's car.

In his recorded interview with the police that was played in court, the son said he went outside to check on his car.

But his father was hiding on the deck and rushed him, punching him in the face.

The son later told police "there was no opportunity to run away, everything happened so fast." He said his father already had him.

In her summing up today, Justice Duffy told the jurors to think about whether the son was taken by surprise, how dark it was, who was the aggressor and what opportunity the son had to stop and assess the situation.

She also told them they could take the family's experience of domestic violence into account as that would have effected the level of threat the son felt.