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Benn Bathgate/Stuff
Brendan Hawkins has been found guilty of inciting his former partner’s attempted suicide.
Brendan Hawkins has been found guilty of inciting the suicide attempt of his former partner.
The charge has a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment.
The seven women and five men of the jury reached their verdict after a four-day trial at Rotorua District Court.
He was found not guilty, also by unanimous decision, on the two other charges he faced of blackmail and assault.
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* Woman made 84 phone calls in a day to man who allegedly incited her suicide attempt
* Woman ‘pushed over the edge’ by partner’s messages urging suicide – Crown
His former partner attempted, unsuccessfully, to take her own life in November 2020.
Over four days the jury heard that Hawkins and his former partner, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were in a “toxic relationship”.
The jury was told at the start of the trial by Crown prosecutor Alex Maino that the woman had been “pushed over the edge” after Hawkins’ “repeatedly told her to kill herself”.
Defence lawyer Ngaroma Tahana, however, said he only ever sent messages “after a barrage of harassment in the heat of the moment”, and never intended his former partner to act on them.
In her closing address to the jury Maino acknowledged his former partner has “acted appallingly” at times, using fake email and social media accounts to contact Hawkins, and sometimes calling him as many as 130 times a day.
At one stage, Hawkins said, he had 2000 voicemail messages on his phone from the woman.
However, Maino said the complainant had been honest about her bad behaviour, and that it was ultimately an issue of credibility.
“Who do you believe?”
Jonas Leupe/Supplied
Brendan Hawkins said that at one point his former partner had left 2000 voicemail messages on his phone (file photo).
She said Hawkins’ “told her to kill herself multiple times”.
Citing text and social media messages, she said there was “direct evidence Brendan Hawkins intended to encourage [her] to kill herself … and that he meant it”.
She read the jury one message that saw him respond to his former partner asking “do you want me to kill myself?”
“Yes I f…… do, leave.”
“He wasn’t just saying those things in the heat of the moment. He meant it and he encouraged her to kill herself.”
Tahana began her closing by also describing the pair as being in a “toxic relationship”.
She also said there was no dispute her client had sent “horrible messages”.
“He acknowledged that. The harassment and the constant attempts to be contacted by [her] was the catalyst for his frustration,” she said.
“She wouldn’t stop contacting him. But at no point did he ever intend she act on those words, he just wanted her gone.”
She also said they would often talk after the “kill yourself” messages had been sent, “so how could Mr Hawkins have known [she] was contemplating suicide?”
Hawkins was remanded in custody following the guilty verdict on Friday and a sentencing date will be set at a hearing in February.
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