Eliasoa Thomas Wasaga found guilty of murdering his cousin in Tomaris Court flats
The family of a Darwin murder victim have shared their relief after the jury handed down its verdict: ‘We feel at ease now, that it’s all come to this, and it’s all over’.
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UPDATE, Tuesday November 12: A ‘happy-go-lucky’ Darwin man who opened his home to his cousin was rewarded for his hospitality by being beaten to death by his own house guest.
After four hours of deliberation, a Supreme Court jury unanimously found Eliasoa Thomas Wasaga guilty of murdering his 54-year-old cousin, Henry Asera.
There was silence in the courtroom as the verdict was read out on Tuesday, condemning the 53-year-old to a life sentence in a jail cell.
After 12 days of evidence, the jury found Mr Wasaga murdered his cousin in the 54-year-old’s own Tomaris Court flat on Smith St on the morning of April 8, 2022.
Crown prosecutor Damien Jones said Mr Wasaga beat his cousin to death with a metal walking crutch and other items, with the relentless assault spanning the course of hours.
The jury was told Mr Asera allowed Mr Wasaga and his wife to move in, but his hospitality wore thin and he told friends and family he wanted the couple to leave.
In the early hours of April 8, neighbours heard the sounds of an assault reverberating through the public housing block.
Mr Asera’s downstairs neighbour described a “hollow” metal sound, glass smashing and yells, followed by a squishing noise, “like if you put a piece of fruit under a car wheel”.
The victim was found lying in a “large pool of blood” with fatal head injuries, and died five days later.
The jury dismissed Mr Wasaga’s claims to police Mr Asera either fell, had a seizure or was drunk and vomited blood.
Outside the court, Mr Asera’s nephew Samuel Asera said his family would remember their uncle as a “good fella” who “always opened his door to everyone”.
“He had a good heart, he was loving,” he said.
“We’re were proud that we got the outcome that we needed today”.
Mr Asera’s aunt Rebecca Lutta said she would remember him as a “happy-go-lucky person”.
“He had his own place, had his own life to live — we’re going to miss him,” she said.
“We feel at ease now, that it’s all come to this, and it’s all over.”
Justice Sonia Brownhill adjourned his submissions and sentencing hearing to December 10.
Crown prosecutor Damien Jones told the court he would not be pushing for more than the 20-years non-parole period, under mandatory sentencing laws.
Forensic expert tells jury of blood-spattered front door
November 6, 1pm: Blood spatters present on the inside of the front door of a Darwin unit where a man was allegedly murdered by his cousin “cannot have occurred from the same origin,” a jury has been told.
The murder trial of Eliasoa Thomas Wasaga, 53, who has pleaded not guilty to the April 8, 2022 murder of his cousin Henry Asera, 54, inside the deceased’s Tomaris Court, Darwin City flat, continued this week.
On Wednesday, Dr Joannah Lee, director of NT Police’s Forensic Science Branch, gave evidence about her analysis of blood stains within Mr Asera’s flat she analysed in the wake of the death.
The Crown’s case is that Mr Wasaga beat his cousin to death with items including a metal walking crutch over a number of hours, while the defence argues Mr Asera fell and caused the injuries to himself, either due to a seizure or intoxication.
Dr Lee was asked about blood spatters on the inside of Mr Asera’s front door.
She told the jury that there were small “circular stains” (i.e. blood spatters) present at both 20–30cm above the base of the door, and also about 70cm above.
This meant they “cannot have occurred from the same origin,” as Mr Asera’s angle to the ground must have been different to reach the different areas of the door.
“They vary in size and origin, indicating they came from multiple... impact events,” Dr Lee said.
Dr Lee was not challenged on this aspect of her evidence under cross-examination.
Earlier in the trial, a number of family members and friends of Mr Asera’s testified the deceased was a heavy drinker, and appeared drunk on the night of his death.
One witness confirmed Mr Asera was very unsteady on his feet when drinking.
The witnesses told the court they were aware Mr Wasaga and his wife (who isn’t charged with any offences) had essentially bullied their way into living with Mr Asera, who wanted them gone.
Several said they weren’t aware of Mr Asera having seizures, although one said he was.
Noises on night of alleged murder ‘embedded in my brain’: Witness
October 30, 2pm: A woman visiting friends at a Darwin City public housing block the evening a man was allegedly bashed to death by his cousin, who was also living there, has told a murder trial she heard a “squishing noise … [like] a piece of fruit under a car wheel”.
Eliasoa Thomas Wasaga, 53, has pleaded not guilty to the April 8, 2022 murder of his cousin Henry Asera, 54, inside the deceased’s Tomaris Court, Smith St unit.
The Crown’s case is that Mr Wasaga and his wife (who isn’t charged with wrongdoing) moved themselves into Mr Asera’s flat, banished him from his bedroom onto the couch, then later the defendant beat Mr Asera to death with items including a metal walking crutch.
On Wednesday, Kelly Skinner, who was visiting a friend in the unit below Mr Wasaga and Mr Asera’s, told the defendant’s murder trial at Darwin said she heard loud noises emanating from upstairs shortly after her arrival about 7.30pm, April 7, and into the early hours of the following day.
“I was trying to listen because I knew it wasn’t normal,” Ms Skinner told the jury.
“[There was] yelling, glass smashing, at one stage I heard a squishing sound, I heard spitting, at the end I heard something metal and it was tinging on something.”
She described the metal noise as “hollow” and the squishing noise as “like if you put a piece of fruit under a car wheel”.
Ms Skinner said on six or seven occasions she yelled upstairs in a bid to get the racket to cease, and originally believed she was listening to a domestic violence episode.
She told the court she was smoking cannabis — two or three cones worth, on her account – on the night in question and initially lied to police about it, but during her second interview she came clean.
Under a cross-examination during which Ms Skinner frequently became agitated, the witness said she was “stoned, but not stoned stoned”.
Challenged as to how she could know what was happening upstairs when she couldn’t see it, Ms Skinner told the court the noises left no doubt in her mind.
“I didn’t need to see it, I heard it, it’s embedded in my skin and brain,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Desmond Spicer, a neighbour of Tomaris Court who was acquainted with Mr Wasaga and Mr Asera, told the jury on the night of April 7, he heard “yelling and discord coming from Henry’s place”.
He said he knew the yelling was coming from Mr Wasaga because of their acquaintance.
Mr Spicer agreed with Crown prosecutor Damien Jones he knew Mr Wasaga was an “unwanted guest” in Mr Asera’s one-bedroom flat and that Mr Wasaga and his wife had “bullied their way in”.
Under cross-examination, Mr Spicer further agreed that by the end of the night, he could hear the sound of Mr Wasaga’s “missus” talking at a normal level after the yelling and discord had ceased.
The trial continues on Thursday.
Murder accused kicked deceased out of his own bedroom: Trial
October 29, 1pm: A Darwin man allegedly beaten to death over a protracted period by his cousin, who was living in the flat alongside his wife, was kicked out of his bedroom by the couple and made to sleep on the couch, a murder trial has been told.
Eliasoa Thomas Wasaga, 53, has pleaded not guilty to the April 8, 2022 murder of Henry Asera, 54, inside the deceased’s Tomaris Court, Smith St public housing unit they shared.
Mr Asera, the defendant’s cousin and flatmate, was discovered with head injuries when police responded to a separate call-out involving Mr Wasaga and his wife, and died in hospital five days later.
The Crown case is that Mr Wasaga beat him to death with items including a metal walking crutch.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory at Darwin heard evidence from three of Mr Asera’s family members – sister Kara Asera, cousin Joseph Wasaga, and nephew Sem Tom – who all attested the deceased was desperate to move Mr Wasaga and his wife out of the single-bedroom unit.
Ms Asera told the court her late brother would regularly complain about his cousin and cousin’s wife when they spoke on the phone.
“He said that he tried to tell them to leave, but he couldn’t make them move or leave him,” she said.
“He said to me they kicked him out from the [bed]room and make him sleep out on the lounge.
“There were other people there too.
“He was angry.”
Ms Asera said she spoke to Mr Wasaga after travelling to Darwin from Far North Queensland upon hearing her brother was in a critical condition.
“I asked him what happened to Henry and he said that he didn’t do anything, [Henry] fell off the chair,” Ms Asera said.
She told the court Mr Wasaga was unable to meet her eye and when she asked why he hadn’t visited Mr Asera in hospital, Mr Wasaga responded it was because he had “no clothes”.
Joseph Wasaga also attested the deceased had told him he wanted the defendant and defendant’s wife out, as did Mr Asera’s nephew, Mr Tom.
Mr Tom told the court Mr Asera had said to him he wanted to move back to Queensland, but “couldn’t go because they [the defendant and his wife] were there”.
He said he was aware Mr Asera had been kicked out of his bedroom by Mr Wasaga and his wife.
Under cross-examination, the defence asked all three about Mr Asera’s drinking (he had been drinking at the Tap on Mitchell St in the hours before his death) and medication, which on their case leaves open the possibility the deceased fell and caused the injuries to himself.
All three confirmed he was a heavy drinker whose alcoholism had worsened over the years.
Joseph Wasaga agreed Mr Asera became “wobbly” on his legs after drinking, and falls were not uncommon when he was intoxicated.
Joseph Wasaga and Ms Asera both denied Mr Asera told them he had been suffering seizures, one of the several explanations of the deceased’s fall provided by the defendant in the days after his cousin’s death.
Beaten to death with a metal crutch, Crown alleges in murder trial
October 28, 3pm: Police who followed the trail of a “verbally aggressive” man from a service station into a block of public housing flats in Darwin City were confronted by a man lying in a “large pool of blood” while another man mopped gore from the ground, the opening day of a murder trial has heard.
Eliasoa Thomas Wasaga, 53, stands charged with the April 8, 2022 murder of Henry Asera, who was aged 54 at the time of his death.
Mr Asera, the defendant’s cousin and flatmate, was discovered with head injuries inside the Tomaris Court flats on Smith St on the morning of April 8, 2022.
He died in hospital five days later.
Crown prosecutor Damien Jones in his opening statement on Monday afternoon told the jury the prosecution alleged Mr Wasaga beat his cousin to death with a metal walking crutch and other items, with the assault lasting for hours on the Crown case.
“The assault caused numerous blunt force injuries,” Mr Jones said.
“One caused a brain infarction [a type of stroke], from which the deceased could not recover.”
The post mortem uncovered a “catalogue of injuries”, Mr Jones said, included multiple facial and scalp lacerations and tears, multiple scalp bruises, multiple internal bruises, knee lacerations, and a “large burn” on Mr Asera’s torso.
Mr Jones said the Crown case was that Mr Wasaga and his wife moved into Mr Asera’s flat in early 2021, but they became a burden on the deceased, who told multiple friends and family members he wanted them out.
The Crown would introduce evidence from a woman visiting a friend at Tomaris Court on April 7–8, 2022, who would give evidence that over a number of hours, into the early morning, she heard a man upstairs repeatedly count up from one, followed by a “whacking, or a whip sound”, and words to the effect of, “Henry get up, get out of my house, f--- you.”
Mr Jones said the trial would also hear from two NT Police officers who were called by the console operator of the Puma Service Station across the road, who phoned triple-0 after being confronted by the “verbally aggressive” defendant and his wife over the cost of bread.
The officers tracked Mr Wasaga via CCTV into Tomaris Court, where they were confronted with the sight of the deceased lying in a “large pool of blood” while the defendant mopped at the blood slick.
Mr Wasaga subsequently gave a number of accounts as to what befell his cousin Mr Asera, including that he fell, that he didn’t take his medication and had a seizure, and that he came home drunk at 4am and vomited up blood.
In his opening statement, defence counsel Colin Mandy SC told the jury it was not disputed that Mr Asera suffered a head injury and subsequently died, nor that his client Mr Wasaga was there when police discovered Mr Asera lying in a pool of blood, but what was in dispute was that the defendant caused those injuries.
“How that injury happened and who caused it and in what circumstances, in our submission to you, is very unclear on the evidence,” Mr Mandy said.
He stressed to the jury that his client was innocent until the Crown could satisfy them beyond reasonable doubt he murdered Mr Asera.
The trial, which is expected to last a maximum of three weeks, continues on Tuesday with the calling of the first witnesses.
Jury selected for three-week Smith Street bashing murder trial
October 28, 1.30pm: The murder trial of a defendant charged with killing a man in his fifties at a block of Darwin City flats is underway in the Supreme Court, with the jury now empanelled.
Eliasoa Thomas Wasaga, 53, stands charged with the April 8, 2022 murder of Henry Asera, who was aged 54 at the time of his death.
Mr Asera suffered head injuries inside the Tomaris Court public housing flats on Smith St, NT Police said at the time.
Mr Asera was transported to the Royal Darwin Hospital in a critical condition, but died of his injuries five days later.
The trial in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory at Darwin is expected to last for a maximum of three weeks, with in excess of 30 witnesses available to be called, although this is expected to be whittled down to 22 or 23 via mutual agreement between the Crown and defence.
The jury empanelment process on Monday morning took approximately 90 minutes.
The Crown will commence its opening statement at 2pm.
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