‘Hours of racist comments,’ Court told

Masterton District Court. PHOTO/FILE

BECKIE WILSON

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Puruata Nootai was “scared” of what Paul Cadwallader would do to his brother’s family after hours of threats and racists comments, the Masterton District Court heard on Wednesday.

On the second day of the trial the DVD recording of Nootai’s voluntary police statement to Detective Damian Doocey on the night of January 11, after he had assaulted Cadwallader, was played.

Nootai said he was protecting himself and his family when he hit the victim putting him in hospital for about three weeks, mostly in the Intensive Care Unit.

Nootai said Cadwallader’s persistent racial comments “did not bother me” initially, however it was after about three hours of yelling and confrontations that he struck Cadwallader in the face.

Nootai had been visiting his brother’s family on Masterton’s Clyde St, next door to Cadwallader, and arrived at about 4pm.

They were “just chilling” in the backyard when Cadwallader began to talk to them from his property.

He yelled racist remarks such as “you f…ing coconuts” and “f…ing brown bastards”.

Nootai, his brother and his partner, and their children were outside.

“The others were telling [Cadwallader] to mind his own business. . . he was a bit mental and still carrying on,” Nootai said.

“I told him to shut up.”

Cadwallader went into his house and came out again multiple times.

Eventually, he came out with a metal pick in his hand, with the sharp end in between his fingers.

“He said to ‘watch your back at night’, stuff that wasn’t nice, and I said ‘you stay on your side and I’ll stay on mine’.

“He came right over onto my brother’s property, he said he was going to stab us.”

He told Cadwallader to go back inside for about the fifth or sixth time, Nootai said.

Shortly after, he came back outside asking to fight.

Nootai said “go on then” and told Doocey that he was scared and angry after Cadwallader’s threats.

He told Doocey he thought to himself, “what if he stabs me” or if he came back in the night.

“I was just trying to see what he was going to do, I didn’t think he was actually going to throw a punch.”

They stood face-to-face and Cadwallader threw the first two punches. Nootai dodged both.

Nootai then punched Cadwallader, who “went down and hit his head on the concrete”.

He did not think his punch was “full-force”, however, “he went down pretty hard”.

Cadwallader stumbled, fell backwards onto his bottom then hit his head on the concrete.

Nootai dragged him back onto his own driveway and placed him on his side before ambulances arrived.

He admitted he should have rung police and “let them deal with it” from the beginning.

His final comment was: “I apologise, I felt stink and bad. I feel bad.”

A CT scan of Cadwallader’s head, taken in Wairarapa Hospital’s Emergency Department, showed multiple skull fractures, a broken nose, brain bruising and a build-up of blood. His brain had moved 7mm.

Nootai was arrested on February 28.

The 22-year-old Nootai has pleaded not guilty to a charge of injuring by unlawful act.

Judge Peter Butler will give his decision Friday.