Brothers teased murder accused before dad's death

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A man accused of murder was taunted repeatedly by his victim's sons, a court has heard.

Wilson Apatu, 40, 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, 40 kilometres north of Napier, on August 30 last year.

Apatu allegedly shot Mr Rameka, 35, four times while he tried to protect himself, his partner Janine West and three of their six children in a small bedroom.

Yesterday the court heard from Mr Rameka's sons Claydon, 14, and Zepplen, 9, who were in the bedroom when their father was shot.

The Rameka family arrived in Waikoau from Auckland in mid-August.

Zepplen told the court he and Claydon had gone to Apatu's house six days before the shooting and had asked Apatu if he could drive them to the nearest shops to get their mother some cigarettes.

Apatu gave the boys a lift and returned with cigarettes, then allowed Claydon to drive his car on some grass as long as he stayed in first gear and only if he had his mother's permission.

But Claydon drove away and went joy riding, Zepplen said. In the days after, Apatu took Zepplen and Claydon hunting and let Claydon drive the car again.

Zepplen described how the boys kept returning to Apatu's house, entered without knocking even if Apatu was asleep, and how they took or moved items such as a motorbike, a set of walkie talkies and spraypaint, with which Claydon tagged a school bus parked nearby.

Apatu told them repeatedly to stay away but they kept returning, saying "we're allowed to, Uncle".

The boys kept calling Apatu "Uncle" despite his asking them not to, Zepplen said.

The jury saw police interviews of each boy recorded days after the killing in which they described events. In Claydon's video, he said Apatu "only has half of his brain". He denied tagging the bus and said he went to Apatu's house only twice.

Defence lawyer Russell Fairbrother said to Claydon: "You thought it would be quite fun to terrorise someone you thought had half a brain – Mr Apatu – didn't you?"

"Sort of, yeah," he replied.

The trial, before Justice Forrest Miller, is expected to last till next week.

- © Fairfax NZ News