‘This has gone too far’, defence lawyer says murder accused wanted violence to end

The woman accused of the kidnapping, torture and murder of a teenager tried to stop the violence and was never a part of any plan to kill, her lawyers say.

The 21-year-old, who has name suppression, has denied charges of kidnapping and murdering 17-year-old Dimetrius Pairama and is on trial at the High Court in Auckland.

She is the third person to go to trial. The other two, Toko (Ashley) Shane Rei Winter and Kerry Te Amo, have been convicted and sentenced for their roles.

The Crown says all three kidnapped Pairama and subjected her to a beating inside an abandoned Māngere state house on July 7, 2018.

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The Crown’s case is that the woman helped tie Pairama to a chair, took part in cutting her hair off and was with Winter and Te Amo in the hallway when Pairama was killed.

In his closing address to the jurors, defence lawyer David Niven reminded the jurors his client had been born with a “cruel disability”. Her foetal alcohol spectrum disorder had caused brain damage, an IQ as low as 60 and left her suggestible and impulsive.

He said the diagnosis by neuropsychologist and world-renowned expert Dr Valerie McGinn had not been challenged by the Crown.

“We’re not dealing with a normal 16 year-old.”

Niven reminded the jurors that two other people had been convicted for their roles in the kidnapping and the murder of Pairama.

“Could what happened to Ms Pairama in that hallway be explained by the actions of two people?”

He told the jurors Winter was a “preditorial, negative influence” who dominated the teenagers.

Niven said there was no talk of hurting Pairama until they arrived at the abandoned state house where “Ashley ambushed them”.

It was there that Winter spoke of her gang connections and ordered the beating of Pairama.

Referring to McGinn’s diagnosis and that his client functions at the level of a 9-year-old, Niven said his client could only handle simple situations.

“Things very quickly became complex… In that house with a dominating bully, almost twice her age and physically bigger,” Niven said, referring to Winter.

“I would suggest it’s clear she is not going to cope with what is about to happen.”

He said while Pairama was subjected to beatings by Winter, Te Amo and his client, a later post-mortem examination found no broken bones and no external bleeding.

Niven said there was evidence his client wanted the violence to stop and told others “this has gone too far”.

He said it was not until a “meeting” called by Winter in one of the bedrooms that the possibility of killing Pairama was discussed.

Niven warned the jurors. He said just because his client had been involved in the earlier violence and degrading treatment, did not mean she was involved in the killing.

“There is a gulf between what happened there and what happened in the hallway.”

He reminded them that from the moment the door closed, the Crown’s star witness could not say who did what inside the hallway.

Addressing the Crown’s closing address on Tuesday and the use of the term “all for one and one for all”, Niven said there was no evidence to back that up.

“Those are all empty slogans. It’s all just banter. They do not have substance… There was no unity amongst this group. Ashley was only able to secure cooperation by persistent bullying and threats.”

He said his client never involved herself in any plan to kill Pairama and did not encourage the other two.

​In the days following Pairama’s death, Niven said the accused had told social workers that Winter had forced her to do “it”, that Winter had threatened her with gang connections and had made threats against her family.

On Thursday Justice Kiri Tahana will sum up the case for the jurors who will then retire to consider their verdicts.