George Pikaahu, who was initially charged with murder, admitted today that he had the lesser charge in the Auckland High Court.
Judge Francis Cooke, who presided over the arraignment via audio video feed at the Supreme Court in Wellington, also accepted a guilty plea from Blenheim from fellow rebel gang member Peter Uelese.
Uelese pleaded guilty to assault with intent to injure during the same brawl.
Both men will be sentenced in September in Blenheim.
A group of rebel gang members were visiting Blenheim from Auckland on June 20, 2021, when they spent an evening at the popular Club Envy bar on Market St, which was also home to a large group of seasonal workers.
Two of the rebel members attacked one of the seasonal workers in a stairwell when the gang left around 3 a.m., leaving the seasonal worker unconscious.
Gang members were walking to their vehicles when 23-year-old seasonal worker Vea Tonga and a 29-year-old friend learned of the stairwell attack and aggressively approached one of the gang members and punched him from behind.
Pikaahu, 34, who is secretary to the gang’s South Central Chapter, was about five feet away and ran to the aid of the other gang member. He pulled a knife from his waistband and stabbed it into Tonga’s abdomen before turning to the 29-year-old and stabbing him in the sternum.
Tonga later died of the stab wound. The other man survived.
A major brawl between gang members and seasonal workers, which involved an estimated 50 people, subsequently sparked.
According to authorities, Pikaahu attempted to stab a third person during the fight who managed to dodge the blow.
Much of the incident was captured on CCTV footage.
Crown Prosecutor Mark O’Donoghue acknowledged at the hearing that it could have been a risk to bring the murder charge to trial “on the basis that Pikaahu may have acted in self-defense at first, but that then turned into excessive self-defense.” .”
Justice Cooke replied that he himself had viewed the CCTV footage several times as previous hearings.
“I can understand how you got where you’ve come,” he said of the reduced fee.
Justice Cooke ordered Pikaahu, who was previously on bail, to be taken into custody pending sentencing. Uelese was allowed to stay on bail.
The two members of the rebels who attacked a person in the stairwell that night have previously pleaded guilty to assault with intent to injure and have received community sentences.
-By Craig Kapitan