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Offender Databases William Te Huia

William Tama Te Huia

Alias

.

Offences

Murder of Christchurch man William Te Amo in August 1999
Numerous other convictions prior to that

Victims

William Te Amo

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1971

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2000
Eligible for parole September 2009

Background
From the Christchurch Press 03/03/2000
A High Court jury has found a man guilty of murdering his friend after a stabbing at a central city boarding house. William Tama Te Huia, 29, was sentenced to life imprisonment by Justice Hansen after the jury verdict. He had denied murdering William Te Amo on August 20, but had admitted causing the stab wounds which led to his death. The defence had advanced provocation and asked the jury to return a verdict of guilty of manslaughter, not murder. The Crown said the provocation had to be sufficient that Te Huia lost self-control, and sufficient to cause a hypothetical person to lose control.

Te Amo was stabbed four times in the body about 5am at a Worcester Street boarding house where both men had been living. Te Huia and Te Amo, who were known to be cousins, had been drinking together during the evening of August 19 and early morning of August 20. They were both involved in verbal exchanges and altercations with each other and other parties during the course of the evening. At one stage Te Huia returned to the boarding house, got a knife from the kitchen, and went back out. Te Amo and Te Huia had two scuffles in Cathedral Square on the way back to the boarding house and once there continued arguing with each other inside.

Te Huia collected his bags and said he was leaving and Te Amo followed him down the stairs while the argument continued. One resident saw Te Amo punching Te Huia, then saw Te Huia lunging at Te Amo. Te Amo collapsed to the floor and died soon after. Te Huia then asked another resident to wash the knife. Justice Hansen told the jury after its verdict that Te Huia had a substantial list of previous convictions for a wide variety of offences. The Crown was represented by Mark Zarifeh and Anna Fox, and the defence by Stan Barker and Melinda Mason.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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