Two men beat a former friend to death before they set his house on fire and pretended to rescue the man lying dead inside, the Crown says.
Wiremu Arapo’s body was found with blunt force trauma wounds to his head. Toxicology tests suggest the 27-year-old personal trainer was dead before the fire started.
The Crown says Sean Andrew Hayde and Gregory David Hart murdered Arapo. The pair have pleaded not guilty and are on trial at the High Court in Auckland.
They have also pleaded not guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice by setting fire to the Cockle Bay house.
Hayde faces additional charges of strangling his former partner, assaulting her and threatening to kill her.
About a dozen police and fire vehicles were at the scene of a fire on Minerva Tce, in Cockle Bay, on October 20 (Video first published October 21, 2020).
In his opening address, the Crown prosecutor Ned Fletcher said late in the afternoon of October 20, 2020, both men drove to Arapo’s home.
Fletcher said they had a plan and, at the very least, it involved giving Arapo a serious beating.
Neighbours heard what sounded like a fight before everything went quiet. About 45 minutes later, they noticed thick black smoke and flames.
Fletcher said inside, a gas hob on the stove had been turned on and knives and cannabis had been left on the bench “to give the defendants a cover story”.
Fletcher said both men pretended to go back into the house but rather than trying to rescue their “friend”, they were performing for neighbours and first responders.
Inside Arapo was found with burns to 100% of his body. But he had not died of fire. There was little soot in his airway, no signs of carbon monoxide in his blood and there was fire damage to the inside of his skull, indicating his multiple skull fractures were inflicted before the fire.
Fletcher said Arapo had broken bones in his face and one in his neck which suggested strangulation.
Gregory David Hart is accused of murdering Wiremu Arapo and setting his Cockle Bay house on fire in October 2020
Arapo, Hart and tensions at the flat
Arapo and Hart had been friends for years. The pair lived together in Cockle Bay, a suburb in east Auckland, with Arapo’s fiancé in the navy joining them when she wasn’t on base.
But Fletcher said Arapo was growing tired of his friend’s laziness, lack of motivation and his constant failure at making rent and paying bills.
Arapo initially tried to motivate Hart to turn his life around. But Fletcher said Hart referred to Arapo’s attempts as “bullshit chats”.
In the end, Arapo asked Hart to move out. He found a new flatmate who was due to move in shortly.
Sean Andrew Hayde is accused of murdering Wiremu Arapo and setting his Cockle Bay house on fire in October 2020
Arapao, Hayde and his new relationship
Arapo and Hayde were gym friends. Arapo had once trained Hayde in boxing.
In 2020, Hayde had been in a relationship with a woman. The pair had shared a house in Bucklands Beach but the relationship was on the rocks.
By August, Arapo had introduced Hayde to a friend, and Hayde and the friend had begun seeing each other.
But Hayde resented his new girlfriend’s closeness with Arapo.
Things came to a head when Hayde’s girlfriend learnt of his new relationship. He initially denied it but then began goading his girlfriend, telling her details of his new relationship. She later told police: “I wanted to die, to make it stop.”
Fletcher said Hayde grabbed her from behind, with his arm around her neck, he applied pressure to her neck and lifted her from the ground. The woman could not breathe and passed out.
When she came-to she was on the ground and saw the legs of both Hayde and Hart.
Fletcher said Hayde told her “that’s for your own good” before Hayde and Hart left the address.
She decided to contact Hayde’s new girlfriend who came over. When Hayde came back the two women confronted him. Things became heated and the new girlfriend left.
Hayde’s former girlfriend spent the night in the spare room and woke early the next day to go to work.
Fletcher said the woman told Hayde she wanted to leave but Hayde wouldn’t let her and poured hot chilli sauce in her hair. When she tried to call police from the loo, he burst in, snatched the phone and broke it.
He told her he was “going to kill her and also set the house on fire and was not going to let her leave.”
Fletcher said the woman told police she went to the door and called for help. Hayde flung her onto the bed and held her there before going to the kitchen. He came back with a knife and began slashing her clothes, telling her she was worthless.
The woman managed to flee the house and sought help from Hayde’s mother who called the police. Hayde was arrested.
Fletcher said Arapo found out about Hayde’s attack and warned Hayde’s new girlfriend.
DAVID WHITE/STUFF
The house fire where the body of Wiremu Arapo was found.
Fletcher made special mention of Hayde’s threat to his girlfriend. “The Crown says this is the very threat that he went on to execute with Mr Hayde three months later – murdering Mr Arapo and burning down his house.”
Days before Arapo’s death, Hayde sent a text message to Hart telling him he was about to “turn on” Arapo. He used a racist slur and told Hart: “Move out ASAP so I can kick his teeth out”.
He went on to say: “The day you get your bond back, I’ll actually kick his teeth out, lol.”
One of Hayde’s lawyers, Emma Priest, said her client had broken up with his girlfriend but she could not accept the relationship was over.
She said the charges relating to his former girlfriend come from an episode when she cut her own wrists and held the knife to her own throat.
“To be clear, Mr Hayde says she is lying.”
Addressing the murder charge and fire, Priest said Hayde and Hart were best friends in 2020 but Hayde had no part to play in the murder.
“Mr Hayde has no choice but to tell the truth – it was Mr Hart.”
She said there were candles in the lounge room and Hayde said he was outside when he first noticed smoke. “His involvement was to try and save Mr Arapo when it had started.”
One of Hart’s lawyers, Jonathan Hudson, told the jurors his client did not murder Arapo or set the fire.
He said back in 2020 Hart was friends with Hayde – the pair smoked cannabis and drank wine together.
He reminded the jurors of Hayde’s “kick his teeth out” text and his threats to kill his ex-girlfriend and burn her house down.
“Weeks later, that’s what he did.”
Following the murder, Hudson said his client told his former girlfriend and her new partner “Sean had just lost it... he lost the f...ing plot.”
“Mr Hayde murdered Mr Arapo and Mr Hayde alone.”
The trial, before Justice Geoffrey Venning and a jury, is set down for four weeks and is due to hear from 69 witnesses.