The alleged victim in what a military prosecutor says was a violent attack by two soldiers on a junior colleague can now be identified as a man who drowned in an unrelated incident last year.
Gunner Nikau Minhinnick Gill died when trying to rescue his dog from the Manawatū River in Palmerston North in November. He was 21.
His name was suppressed, but Judge Mina Wharepouri on Thursday removed the interim order in place at a Court Martial at Linton Military Camp near Palmerston North.
A military panel was now deciding the fate of two soldiers accused of assaulting Gill, their junior colleague, at the end of an international operation in Hawaii.
It was alleged Sergeant Leaongo Tanginoa and Bombardier Gus Nove attacked him in the early hours of the 25 November, 2023, at Schofield Barracks, after he was drunk and abusive.
The prosecution said the pair punched and kicked Gill, and Tanginoa strangled him, causing him to lose consciousness as they beat him for mouthing off.
But the defence said Gill was drunk and insubordinate, and the accused were restraining him, slapping him to calm him.
Tanginoa has pleaded guilty to one charge of striking.
Gill and his friends cooked up a story so he did not get in trouble for his behaviour, the defence said.
Three senior military officers retired on Thursday afternoon to consider their verdicts for the five charges each Tanginoa and Nove have pleaded not guilty to.
In closing, military prosecutor John Whitcombe said the accused were confronted with abuse and insubordination.
“After Gunner Gill continually refused to listen to them, they lost their tempers and meted out some barrack room justice.”
Gill mouthed off at Tanginoa over alleged ill-treatment during the operation, and the two accused left him wounded, including a mild brain injury, as they attacked him inside and outside the Hawaiian barracks.
Tanginoa strangled Gill, causing him to lose consciousness, and he and Nove landed more than 20 kicks and punches.
In an interview with military police, Gill did not minimise his own poor behaviour, such as calling Tanginoa a dick, so his account was reliable, Whitcombe said.
“He told the whole story even when it didn’t paint him in a particularly good light,” he said.
“However, nothing he did that night justified or warranted the response of Sergeant Tanginoa or Bombardier Nove.”
Whitcombe dismissed defence suggestions of a concocted story and said statements the accused made to military police, where Tanginoa admitted slapping Gill twice, and Nove admitted four slaps, were not consistent with the injuries suffered.
Tanginoa’s defence lawyer Steve Winter said Tanginoa did at one stage grab Gill by the collar and slap him, partly in self-defence, and this could have resulted in some injuries to the neck.
Winter said Gill was drunk, aggressive and up for a fight, and his friends lied about what happened to excuse his behaviour.
Their evidence was in conflict to two defence witnesses, who did not see punches or kicks.
Tanginoa was honest when speaking with military police, making admissions that he lost his temper and had slapped Gill, even when that did not look good for him, Winter said.
In contrast Gill and his friends got together and came up with a story, starting the morning after the fracas when they photographed the soldier’s injuries, he said.
“They’re building a case already against Sergeant Tanginoa and Bombardier Nove.”
Nove’s defence lawyer Matthew Hague said Nove did not kick or punch Gill, nor threaten him to keep quiet, as the prosecution alleges.
Hague disputed that Gill’s account was truthful, and said he did not tell military police he confronted and pursued Tanginoa, and refused to go to bed when ordered to.
He echoed Winter’s comments about the unreliability of some witnesses.
Nove admitted he slapped Gill to shut him up, but that was not the subject of the striking charges, which alleged punches were thrown.
The military panel was continuing its deliberations.
rnz.co.nz
