the Crown\u2019s<\/a> key witness, Howard, began her evidence.<\/p>\nShe said her relationship with Tahere was difficult, with frequent break-ups and reconciliations, and that she often confided in Thompson, whom she called \u201cdarling\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSay I had an argument with Arthur, and I needed to get some validation or something like that, I\u2019d call my mate up,\u201d Howard, whose nickname is Jim, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould Thompson do the same with you?\u201d Kelly asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYep,\u201d Howard replied.<\/p>\n
A night of drinking<\/p>\n
Howard said on the night of the incident, Thompson suggested Tahere could babysit so they could \u201cget on it\u201d, but she declined, saying everyone was there to help.<\/p>\n
Howard said Thompson told her she did not need Tahere and could raise her children alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I don\u2019t need him, I want him. I got someone here who wants to be a father to my kids. I\u2019d be stupid if I turned around and said I don\u2019t need you,\u201d Howard told the court.<\/p>\n
Later that evening, Thompson returned with an 18-pack of 7% KGB drinks, while Tahere was travelling from Auckland.<\/p>\n
Howard said she had drunk about six beers by the time Tahere arrived, while Thompson was also heavily intoxicated, often holding two drinks at once.<\/p>\n
![\"Arthur]()
Arthur Tahere was pronounced dead at Kait\u0101ia Hospital shortly after midnight on September 8, 2024. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
When Tahere arrived, Howard said to Thompson, \u201cMy darling\u2019s here\u201d, before going to greet him.<\/p>\n
She and Tahere sat in the car for about 10 minutes catching up and Howard said he was in high spirits.<\/p>\n
Back at the house, Howard briefly went inside, leaving Thompson and Tahere to become acquainted. Tahere later went inside to see his son before returning outside with the others.<\/p>\n
Howard said Thompson began discussing a previous incident involving women and commenting on Howard\u2019s body, allegedly saying, \u201cI love her fat a**\u201d.<\/p>\n
Howard noticed Tahere becoming annoyed \u2013 \u201choha\u201d, she said, and he walked to his car to get a beer.<\/p>\n
She followed, asking what was wrong.<\/p>\n
Tahere allegedly said: \u201cYou and your f***ing friends, eh bro.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple\u2019s argument<\/p>\n
Howard said the comment instantly angered her because he had never met her friends and she wanted everyone to get along.<\/p>\n
She said she was speaking loudly when she noticed Thompson nearby, looking \u201cmacho\u201d, wearing her hoodie and appearing to \u201cstaunch out the situation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tahere then returned outside with more drinks and the argument escalated.<\/p>\n
Howard said she was angry by this stage, believing Tahere wanted to drink rather than spend time with her and their son.<\/p>\n
She told him if he wasn\u2019t there to help, he should \u201cf*** off\u201d.<\/p>\n
Howard told the court Tahere was not angry and told her: \u201cGo inside bro, you\u2019re tired, bro\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked by Kelly whether Thompson or Tahere were speaking to each other, Howard said she did not hear them, adding: \u201cI was the loudest person out there\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Justice]()
Justice Natalie Walker is conducting the High Court trial. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Within seconds, Howard heard a bottle smash and saw Thompson stab Tahere\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n
At first, Howard didn\u2019t realise what had happened and thought Thompson had hurt herself.<\/p>\n
Then she saw blood on his forearm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked up and he\u2019s holding his neck and there\u2019s just blood dripping down his forearm. And that\u2019s when I realised, oh f***, she\u2019s stabbed him,\u201d Howard said.<\/p>\n
Howard said Tahere remained seated and said: \u201cYou f***ing bitch\u201d. <\/p>\n
She described Thompson as looking \u201clights on, no one home\u201d, appearing to understand what she had done and that she had \u201cf***ed up\u201d.<\/p>\n
After Tahere was taken to hospital, Howard stayed at the house briefly and later encountered Thompson in the bathroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grabbed her and I hugged her and we basically like fell to the floor … and she\u2019s just saying like I\u2019m so sorry, I\u2019m so sorry, I\u2019m so f***ing sorry,\u201d Howard recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you hug her?\u201d Kelly asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019m being honest. I wish I didn\u2019t. But yeah, I did, so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under cross\u2011examination, defence lawyer David Reece put to Howard that Tahere had been aggressive and \u201cbouncing around\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Howard rejected that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the only one that was yelling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Howard said Tahere made no threats to Thompson and maintained he was seated throughout.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put it to you she had the bottle out to defend herself because he was in her face,\u201d Reece said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFalse,\u201d Howard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was holding her arm out as a barrier,\u201d Reece said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFalse,\u201d she repeated. <\/p>\n
The trial continues before Justice Natalie Walker.<\/p>\n
Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/ Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thompson is on trial for murder in the High Court at Whang\u0101rei over the 2024 incident in Kait\u0101ia.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1763,89,30084,9085,11557,1968,33445,37151,78,18839,4505,111,43,139,69,5502,6289,544,72230,1961,96,13118,1455,6736,3603],"class_list":["post-505767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-article","tag-attack","tag-beer","tag-bottle","tag-describes","tag-discusses","tag-fatally","tag-graphic","tag-in","tag-kaitia","tag-moment","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-partner","tag-readers","tag-some","tag-stabbed","tag-this","tag-upsetting","tag-violence","tag-warning","tag-was","tag-witness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}