Eliasoa Thomas Wasaga: Murder trial for man charged with killing Henry Asera, 54, gets underway
A Smith St public housing resident was beaten to death over a number of hours by his cousin, a jury has been told, with police later finding the defendant mopping up the blood. Warning: Graphic.
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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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