Accused 'smiled as shot man died'

An angry neighbour smashed into a house, confronted a father protecting his family in a bedroom, and then smiled as he shot him dead, a court has been told.

Wilson Apatu, 44, is on trial in the High Court at Napier for murdering Layden Rameka, attempting to murder Mr Rameka's eight-year-old son, and entering their house with the intent to commit homicide.

The killing took place in the isolated community of Waikoau, about 40 kilometres north of Napier, on August 30 last year.

At the trial, which started yesterday, Crown prosecutor Jo Rielly described how Mr Rameka, 35, tried to protect himself, his partner Janine West and three of their six children in a small bedroom when he saw Apatu carrying a rifle and entering the house they were living in.

Mrs Rielly said Rameka, Ms West and their children had moved to the settlement from Auckland in mid-August, and were living with friends. There were two houses between their house and Apatu's.

Mrs Rielly said Apatu had befriended the couple's oldest son, Claydon, who was 13 at the time, and Zepplen, 8, and had taken them hunting and allowed Claydon to drive his car.

However, in the days before the killing, Apatu became frustrated with the behaviour of the boys. On the morning of August 30 he went to talk to Mr Rameka, taking two cans of beer. They started arguing and a fight broke out, in which Mr Rameka got the upper hand.

Apatu left the house and, as he went, was abused by Mr Rameka and his two sons.

Mrs Rielly said Apatu spoke to some other neighbours, telling one of them he "felt like pumping Layden full of lead".

Apatu changed into hunting clothes, packed a bag of supplies and put his two dogs and two guns – an SKS 7.62 semi-automatic and a .22 – in his car.

He accelerated down his driveway and stopped outside the house Mr Rameka lived in.

About 2.30pm Mr Rameka, who was sitting in a van on the property listening to the radio and having a cigarette, saw Apatu run up the driveway carrying a rifle. Mr Rameka ran through the house ranchslider, calling to his family, "Wilson has a gun."

He then gathered them in a small bedroom. In the room with him were Ms West, and sons Claydon, Zepplen and Taylor, aged one, and a resident of the house, Angela Fuentes.

Mr Rameka closed the door and tried, unsuccessfully, to move a set of drawers to block it.

Mrs Rielly said Apatu smashed through the ranch slider, loaded his rifle, kicked the bedroom door open and shot Mr Rameka four times.

He was hit in the chest, left arm, abdomen and right thigh. One bullet hit and injured Zepplen after passing through his father's body.

"Those in the room describe the accused smiling as he aimed and fired the last shot into the deceased," Mrs Rielly said.

Apatu left Mr Rameka lying in a pool of blood, left the house and drove off. He lost control of his car and came off the road a short distance away.

A couple out for a Sunday drive found him on the road and offered him a lift. He took their vehicle at knifepoint and drove to a local campsite, where he shot both his dogs, killing one and injuring the other.

He then drove into the town of Clive, near Hastings, and was found by police that night. He told them he had shot Mr Rameka and said: "I knew he was a goner when he hit the floor."

Defence lawyer Russell Fairbrother told the court Apatu regretted what he had done and had not intended it to happen.

He said the jury would hear about his "fragile psychological state", and a social phobia that led to "exaggerations in his mind and possibly paranoia".

Mr Fairbrother said Apatu had been on "a cocktail of prescribed drugs that aggravated underlying conditions".

Apatu pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of aggravated burglary in relation to taking the couple's vehicle.

- © Fairfax NZ News