Killer ordered mum to let go of toddler before fatal stabbing
A year after he was investigated for domestic violence, an Auckland man fatally stabbed his former partner after ordering her to let go of her young child.
The 39-year-old, who cannot be identified pending a request for permanent name suppression, admitted the November 1, 2025, in the High Court at Auckland today.
Some details of the case can now be reported. However, the media has been ordered not to report the victim’s name.
The two were not living together, but the defendant had been allowed into the woman’s Auckland Central apartment on the evening of the fatal attack.
After getting into an argument, the barefoot defendant dragged the victim to the floor of her living room and began stomping on her stomach, hands and arms, according to the agreed summary of facts.
He then took a knife with a 21cm blade from the kitchen.
The woman told an older child to call police and pleaded with the defendant to stop, court documents state.
A younger child went into his mother’s arms, and the defendant ordered the victim to let the child go.
“Someone, help, help, help!,” the victim yelled out the window at the prompting of her tormentor.
Police investigate the scene of a fatal stabbing inside an Auckland Central apartment. Photo / Dean Purcell
However, the defendant dragged her back into the living room and stabbed her twice as she lay on her back.
The defendant left the apartment about 6pm with the children, and went to a police station to report what had happened at 7.36pm. He wasn’t sure if the victim was alive, he told officers.
Police got to the apartment 13 minutes later, where the woman was found dead.
Police at the apartments on Day St, Auckland, where a woman was found dead. Photo / Dean Purcell
A trial had previously been set for next February.
Justice Mathew Downs, who oversaw today’s arraignment, ordered a sentencing hearing to take place in October. Suppression applications will be decided at that hearing.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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