There was dismay when Isaiah Johnson Richard Tai was bailed after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of school principal and Environment Bay of Plenty councillor Hawea Vercoe in the High Court at Rotorua yesterday.
The Opotiki 21-year-old had been charged with murder after he punched Mr Vercoe in a late-night incident on The Strand in Whakatane on November 22, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
During a 10-minute appearance Tai kept his head down as he was remanded on bail for sentencing in Rotorua on June 2.
Judge John Priestly said bail was unusual given such a serious conviction, but granted it to allow Tai to participate in restorative justice conferences with the victim’s family.
However, outside court the Vercoe family expressed their dismay that Tai had been bailed. Mr Vercoe’s aunt, Rihi Vercoe, said she had been expecting to attend the conferences with Tai in prison.
She said they often visited the grave of the Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Rotoiti principal, but could still not believe he was gone.
The whanau was focusing on caring for Mr Vercoe’s four children, she said.
"The saddest thing for us is these children are growing up without their father." Mr Vercoe’s widow, Carrie-Ann Vercoe, said two of the couple’s four children had been in court – the youngest and the eldest.
"The other two decided they didn’t want to see him [Tai] ever again."
She said the children who were in court hoped to participate in the conferences. Mrs Vercoe said she did not believe Tai’s guilty plea was remorseful, and he was only doing it to spend less time in jail.
She hoped to have the conferences and sentencing out of the way as soon as possible so they could grieve in peace with Tai "in jail – where he belongs".
The Tai family did not speak to media outside court. In court, Judge Priestly warned the public gallery, which was packed with around 35 supporters of Tai and Mr Vercoe, that emotional outbursts would not be tolerated.
The appearance continued without the scenes of Tai’s first appearance in Whakatane, where tension between supporters of the victim and the accused spilled over into a verbal exchange in court.
Reading the statement of facts in court, crown prosecutor Greg Hollister-Jones said Tai attended a kickboxing event in Whakatane on November 21 before heading to a bar on The Strand to drink with friends at 9.30pm.
They went to another bar, then returned to the first bar when the other one closed at 2am. Mr Vercoe was also there, having attended a concert in Whakatane that night.
At the bar Mr Vercoe spoke to a female patron and, as the bar closed, he was approached outside by Tai and the two men exchanged words.
Tai then ran at Mr Vercoe and swung his closed fist to punch him in the head forcefully. Mr Vercoe fell face first to the ground and hit his head hard on the concrete.
Mr Hollister-Jones said that as Tai walked away he said "something to the effect of ‘I’m not finished with you yet'". Defence counsel Paul Mabey said Tai disputed making that comment.
Friends of Mr Vercoe put him in the recovery position with towels under his head and called emergency services. He was taken to hospital but passed away shortly after 3am on November 22.
An autopsy determined he died from bleeding to the underside of his brain from a torn artery caused by the initial blow to his head.
NZPA