Matthew Hunt: Eli Epiha pleads guilty to murdering police officer in Auckland shooting
Hunt #Hunt
The man who shot and killed Constable Matthew Hunt during a routine traffic stop in west Auckland last year has pleaded guilty to his murder.
Eli Bob Sauni Epiha has also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing injury after fleeing police and hitting a pedestrian on Reynella Dr that same day.
However, Epiha, 25, will face trial at the Auckland High Court for the alleged attempted murder of another police officer who was at the scene, Constable David Goldfinch, a charge Epiha denies, and has pleaded not guilty to.
Epiha entered the two guilty pleas last Wednesday, but they were suppressed until today, when his trial began.
When asked to enter his plea to the charge of Constable Matt Hunt’s murder last week, Epiha replied saying he was guilty “to reckless discharge causing death”.
Justice Geoffrey Venning intervened, reminding the defendant he was pleading to murder. Epiha gave a thumbs-up back, and entered a guilty plea.
With a jury now empanelled for the attempted murder trial that began this morning, suppression of the guilty pleas, as well as a non-publication order of images of Epiha has been lifted.
This morning, before the Crown made its opening statements to the court, Justice Venning reminded the jury to approach the trial without feelings of prejudice, nor sympathy.
“By pleading guilty to murder, Mr Epiha has accepted he shot and killed Constable Hunt,” he said.
“I emphasise that the charge of attempted murder that is before you is a separate charge.”
Justice Venning told the jury members, “…the fact that Mr Epiha has pleaded guilty to the murder of Constable Hunt does not mean that he is guilty of the attempted murder of Constable Goldfinch.”
In opening the Crown case this morning, Crown Prosecutor Alysha McClintock told the court on Friday 19 June last year, Constable Matthew Hunt, and Constable David Goldfinch were shot, after trying to make a routine traffic stop.
“Contable Hunt was killed, Constable Goldfinch was seriously wounded,” she said.
McClintock told the court it is not in dispute that Eli Epiha shot both officers.
“He used a military style, semi automatic firearm. The shootings happened after he fled police after he had driven past them at speed.”
But the Crown told the court, “What is in dispute is whether his intention in shooting Constable Goldfinch, was to kill. The crown says it was.”
Epiha denies the charge of attempted murder, and his defence will make its opening statement to the court this afternoon.
On trial alongside Epiha, Natalie Bracken,31, who faces a charge of being an accessory after the fact to murder, by allegedly driving a vehicle to enable Epiha to avoid arrest.
She has pleaded not guilty, and her defence will also make its opening statements later today.
The trial is expected to last up to three weeks.
Const Hunt was the 33rd police officer killed in the line of duty. He began with police as a member of Wing 312 in October 2017, spending much of his career on the frontline in Orewa and Helensville before moving to the Waitemata Road Policing Team shortly before his death.
He was described by his family as a “person of great integrity” and passionate about sport and physical fitness. His mother, Diane Hunt, has since presented a petition to Parliament calling for MPs to change the law to automatically decline parole eligibility for offenders convicted of the murder of police officers. It received more than 39,000 signatures.
Currently, under the Sentencing Act 2002, if someone is convicted of murder, they must be sentenced to life in prison unless that sentence would be manifestly unjust. Murderers can become eligible for parole, however, after a period chosen by the sentencing judge. They must serve at least 10 years.
In the days after Const Hunt’s death, Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers and Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan paid tribute to him.
“Matt is an outstanding police officer, he passionately expressed his desire to serve his community,” Hassan said through tears. “He was killed serving his country, there is no higher price.”
His death struck a chord with Kiwis across the country. Among those who expressed their sympathies was Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, then-Police Minister Stuart Nash and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
Const Hunt was farewelled by family and friends at a funeral at Eden Park last July attended by Ardern, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, Nash and Whangaparāoa MP Mark Mitchell. A Police Remembrance Day service was held in September to commemorate all officers slain on duty.
In June this year, his family held a service at Orewa beach to remember him. They unveiled a park bench at a reserve with a plaque paying tribute to him.
“Matt will forever have a place, Matt will forever have a place in our hearts, and now he will forever have a spot at the beach, overlooking us, at the place he called home,” his friend Sam Swaffield said at the gathering.