Murder was sparked by 'kill him' Facebook message, court hears

The messages were found by police in data seized from Facebook's parent company Meta. File photo. Photo: 123RF

A woman's Facebook messages led to the murder of a Wellington man, a jury has been told.

The 40-year-old woman - whose name is suppressed - has pleaded not guilty to being party to the murder of Rau Tongia in a trial at the High Court in Wellington.

Tongia was shot in his Karori home in the early hours of 20 December 2020.

In a trial that began on Monday, Crown prosecutors told the jury that moments after the defendant sent messages saying "kill him" and "this n***** needs to go permanently", a woman was on her way to Tongia's house with a gun.

But the defence said Tongia's death had nothing to do with any messages and was related to an assault on the woman - Shayde Weston - earlier in the evening.

Weston was one of two women convicted of Tongia's murder in a three-month long murder trial last year.

Defence lawyer Elizabeth Hall said her client and Tongia had known each other for years, and had a "friends with benefits" relationship.

She said Tongia was unpredictable and violent, and that the jury would hear evidence that he attacked Weston while she slept after seeing Weston and her client kiss.

Hall said Weston made threats to kill Tongia, but her client did not take those threats seriously.

Later in the night, Weston returned to the address with friends and weapons and Tongia was hit in the head with a hammer, she said.

Police were called, but left after no one made a statement.

Outlining the Crown's case, prosecutor Tamara Jenkin said after the altercation with the hammer, Tongia attacked the defendant and put her in a choke hold.

She said because of this the defendant was angry and wanted Tongia dead, and knew Weston would want revenge for the assault on her earlier in the night.

Jenkin said the defendant sent Facebook messages to Weston encouraging her to kill Tongia, and three minutes later, Weston was on her way to the house with a shotgun.

She said the messages were found by police in data seized from Facebook's parent company Meta.

She said the timing was not a coincidence and the Crown's case was that the messages directly abetted, incited or counselled Weston to commit murder.

Hall said her client did not remember sending any messages, and that messages received on Weston's old Facebook account had no impact.

"Weston did what she did without any incitement or encouragement... by the time those messages were sent Shayde Weston was already well on her way to carrying out her plan to kill Rau Tongia."

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