R v Epiha

• Jurisdiction: New Zealand
• Judge: Venning J
• Judgment Date: 10 December 2021
• Neutral Citation: [2021] NZHC 3394
• Docket Number: CRI-2020-090-002-497
• Court: High Court

The Queen

and

Eli Bob Sauni Epiha

[2021] NZHC 3394

CRI-2020-090-002-497

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND

AUCKLAND REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA

TĀMAKI MAKAURAU ROHE

Criminal Sentence — sentencing for murder, attempted murder and dangerous driving causing injury — the murder victim and attempted murder victim were police officers — three-strike sentencing regime — Sentencing Act 2002

Appearances:

B Dickey, A McClintock and N Herewini for Crown

M A Edgar and V J Feyen for Defendant

SENTENCING NOTES OF Venning J

1 Eli Epiha, you are before the Court this morning for sentence for the murder of Constable Matthew Hunt, the attempted murder of Constable David Goldfinch and for driving dangerously and injuring Mr Mohammed Sattar.

2 The sentence for murder in New Zealand is life imprisonment. That is the sentence the Court will impose. The issue for the Court this morning is whether you should serve that sentence without parole, in other words, a whole of life sentence, or if that would be manifestly unjust. If it would be manifestly unjust, then the Court must impose a minimum period you are to spend in prison before you are eligible to be considered for parole.

3 Before I deal with the sentencing in more detail, I want to first acknowledge the people in the courtroom and watching this sentence. First, the family and supporters of Constable Hunt. The sentence of the Court today is imposed on behalf of society as a whole in response to Mr Epiha's actions. It is not an attempt to measure or value Constable Matthew Hunt's life. It could never be.

4 Next, Constable Goldfinch, and his family and supporters. I acknowledge the dignity that you and Constable Hunt's family and supporters have shown throughout the trial and this sentencing. I also acknowledge the Police colleagues of Constables Hunt and Goldfinch who have felt the loss of Constable Hunt and have supported his family and Constable Goldfinch and his family.

5 I also acknowledge the whanau and other supporters of Mr Epiha. It must have been difficult for you Mrs Epiha in particular (and other members of your whanau) to hear the details of Mr Epiha's actions on 19 June last year. It will be important for him that over the term of the sentence he must serve that you continue to support him.

6 Mr Epiha, I start by summarising the offending. On 19 June 2020 Constables Hunt and Goldfinch were on road policing duties on Triangle Road in West Auckland. The Toyota Verosa you were driving approached an intersection with Triangle Road. You had to brake the Toyota at the last moment to avoid a truck coming down the road. Your driving drew you to their attention. They decided to follow the Toyota and speak to the driver. You realised that the Police were following you. You turned into Reynella Drive and sped away. There is no doubt you were trying to avoid the officers and get away. You knew you had two illegal firearms in your car and did not want to be caught with them.

7 You drove recklessly and dangerously and, after cresting the hill in Reynella Drive you lost control when you had to take evasive action to avoid a rubbish truck. You hit Mr Sattar's car, which was parked at the side of the road. Mr Sattar was at the boot of the car loading it for a family holiday. As a result of the collision he was badly injured. Your Toyota was effectively immobilised but you managed to park it up in a nearby drive. Almost immediately the Police Officers arrived at the scene.

8 Constable Goldfinch got out of the car and approached your car. His intention was to help you. He expected to find you, the driver, injured as a result of the accident. Instead, you got out of the car, picked up the most lethal of the two weapons that you had available to you, the semi-automatic Norinco firearm. You pointed that firearm towards Constable Goldfinch and pulled the trigger. Constable Goldfinch backed off and ran to the other side of the road in an attempt to shelter behind a parked Suzuki SUV. You pursued him across the road and fired further shots at him.

9 Constable Goldfinch then described a sort of cat and mouse situation that took place around the SUV. You were trying to get around it to get at him. He was trying to keep the SUV between him and you so you could not get a clear shot at him. He pleaded with you to stop. He put his hands up and told you to just “f'ing walk away”. He said he wouldn't arrest you. Constable Goldfinch's evidence about your response was chilling. He described you looking at him like you were thinking about it and it was as though you just “clicked” and decided you were going to kill him. You then leaned the weapon over the top of the SUV and shot at him through the roof of it. Remarkably the shot missed him.

10 Constable Goldfinch then ran down Reynella Drive to get away. He described the bullets you were firing pursuing him. The ground was exploding around him. He felt an explosion of acid in his hip area as he was hit there. Despite his injuries, he continued to run for his life. He crossed the road and escaped down the driveway of 84 Reynella Drive where he radioed for help and eventually jumped the fence to escape.

11 In all you fired 10 shots at Constable Goldfinch, four of which hit him, one in the hip, two in his calf and one on the boot. Fortunately the shots were not fatal. They easily could have been. The shots you fired were potentially lethal to him and also to innocent bystanders and homeowners in Reynella Drive. The scientist, Angus Newton, described the shots which missed Constable Goldfinch travelling directly into houses or ricocheting into fences.

12 As Constable Goldfinch fled, Constable Matthew Hunt put through a call from the patrol car radioing for assistance. After Constable Goldfinch escaped you noticed Constable Hunt, who by this stage had got out of the police car, likely in an attempt to try and help his colleague, despite the fact he was not armed and was facing a man with a firearm. He only made a few steps away from the police car before you fired at him four times from close range. You hit him with each one of those four shots. The first shot was a glancing blow off his left chest as he turned away from you, the other three were fired when he was turned away and had his back to you. The last two shots were fired when Constable Hunt was falling or was close to the ground. The internal damage he suffered from the last three shots was not survivable.

13 While Constable Hunt lay dying in the road you ignored him and instead went and collected the other gun from the Toyota before waiting to be driven away from the scene by Ms Bracken. While you were standing beside the getaway car waiting for her you paid Constable Hunt no attention. You were just concerned about yourself and getting away.

14 At trial you said Constable Hunt asked for help and that you thought about it for a few seconds. You said you thought about chucking him in the police car and going to the hospital but decided against that when you heard sirens. I reject that evidence. On the day your actions displayed no concern for anyone other than yourself. Your evidence that you appeared calm because you were practising “mindfulness” because you were stressed was bizarre. Your actions after you had shot the officers were captured on a witness' phone video and they were plain for all to see.

15 Shortly before trial you pleaded guilty to the murder of Constable Hunt. You tried to qualify your plea by saying you were pleading guilty to reckless killing. The Court did not accept that and you pleaded guilty to murder. Despite that you maintained the stance throughout the trial that your actions were just reckless. You refused to accept full responsibility for your actions.

16 The Court has confirmed you are to be sentenced on the basis that when you fired the shots at Constable Hunt you intended to kill him. 1 It is a nonsense for you to suggest and to maintain otherwise.

17 You also pleaded guilty to driving dangerously causing injury.

18 At your trial you were found guilty of the attempted murder of Constable Goldfinch. Given Constable Goldfinch's evidence and the fact you fired 10 shots from a semi-automatic firearm either towards or directly at him, the verdict of guilty of attempted murder was inevitable. His evidence about the circumstances when you confronted him at the Suzuki SUV and then fired at him, then subsequently hitting him four times as he fled down the road, was compelling.

19 Given the murder of Constable Hunt the focus of the sentence this morning is on the sentence for murder, but I do not discount the significance of your offending against Constable Goldfinch and Mr Sattar. That offending is relevant to the sentence the Court must impose.

20 At the time you murdered Constable Hunt you were subject to the three strikes regime. His murder was your second strike. Section 86E of the Sentencing Act 2002 is engaged. It provides that the Court must sentence you to imprisonment for life and order you to serve the sentence without parole unless the Court is satisfied that, given the circumstance of the offence and the offender it would be manifestly unjust to do so. If the murder is a stage two offence as in your case, and the Court does not make an order for imprisonment without parole, the Court must direct that you serve a minimum period of imprisonment. 2

21 In the cases of R v Harrison and R v Davis the Court of Appeal confirmed the approach the sentencing Court should take where the sentence for murder is a second or third strike offence. 3

22 The start point is the presumption of life imprisonment without parole.

23 The next step is for the Court to consider your culpability on the particular facts of this case as compared with other murder cases and to determine what the appropriate sentence would be, applying ss 102 to 104 of the Sentencing Act.

24 The final...