Girl's eyes ugly with evil, court told

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Hall Jones Wharepapa, 46, is jointly charged with the manslaughter of Janet Moses.

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A witness has described people ''flicking'' at the eyes of a 14-year-old girl injured in an alleged attempt to rid her of demons.

In the High Court at Wellington yesterday Nanette Wright said the girl seemed much stronger than usual and was ''chucking off'' the people who tried to hold her down.

People at the small Wainuiomata flat were trying to put water on her eyes, her head and in her mouth. They wanted the girl to vomit out the demons.

The girl's eyes were red and ugly with evil and people were flicking at her eyes trying to get the demons out, Ms Wright said.

Nine members of Ms Wright's family  including her mother Glenys  are on trial charged with the manslaughter of Ms Wright's cousin, Janet Moses, 22, on October 12, 2007. Two people whose names are suppressed are charged with cruelty to the younger girl. The court has been told the girl's injuries healed.

Ms Wright said even after Ms Moses died in the flat  allegedly drowned during the ritual  it continued for the younger girl.

Ms Moses had been acting strangely, mostly being unresponsive, in the week before her death but during a hikoi to return a stolen lion statue to the Greytown Hotel she had roared like a lion and gone "nutty'', Ms Wright said.

After Ms Moses became ill a kaumatua advised the family to return the statue to where it belonged.

"After it was placed back it looked much happier, it wasn't as ugly as it was when I first seen it,'' Ms Wright said. Everyone seemed relieved and happier, including Ms Moses but the improvement did not last.

Ms Wright's sister Ngahihioterangi said Ms Moses was so devastated when their grandmother died in late August 2007 that she thought she might have psychological problems.

Later she realised Ms Moses' problems were not psychological and she had demons or bad spirits inside her.

Glenys Wright poured water in Ms Moses' eyes, and probably her mouth to get out the demons.

Ms Wright said her mother was not her normal self either. ''She would never hold down a person against their will in her normal state of mind.''  She said her mother would never have wanted to hurt Ms Moses. ''Not at all. That is loud and proud.''

THE ACCUSED

* Nine members of Janet Moses' extended family are charged with her manslaughter, which the Crown alleges was the result of an attempt to remove a curse  a makutu  or evil spirit.

* The accused are: John Tahana Rawiri, 49, Georgina Aroha Rawiri, 50, Aroha Gwendoline Wharepapa, 48, Hall Jones Wharepapa, 46, Tanginoa Apanui, 42, Angela Rangiaroha Orupe, 46, Gaylene Tangiohorere Kepa, 44, Alfred Hughes Kepa, 48, and Glenys Lynette Wright, 52. All are siblings of Ms Moses' mother, or their partners.

* Two people, whose names are suppressed, are charged with cruelty to a 14-year-old girl in their care.

* The charges date from October 12, 2007, at Wainuiomata, when the Crown alleges Ms Moses and several others were subjected to a water-based ceremony resulting in Ms Moses drowning.

- © Fairfax NZ News