Australian jury finds Tongan man guilty of murdering neighbour [1]
Tuesday, August 8, 2017 - 21:40
An Australian jury has found a Tongan man, Sateki Siale (26), guilty of murdering his neighbour in south-western Sydney during a drunken altercation. He will be sentenced at a later date.
The court revealed that the murder took place after midnight on October 11, 2015. The victim, Mr Kelly Ventigadoo, was talking to his mother and hearing-impaired father in front of a driveway.
According to the court, a drunken Sateki approached them and asked “Why are you talking so loud? This is my street”. Sateki than smashed a beer bottle on a brick fence and plunged it into Mr Ventigadoo’s neck. Mr Ventigadoo fell to the ground and as he attempted to stand up, he was hit again by Sateki. Mr Ventigadoo bled to death after five minutes.
Sateki claimed that he was too drunk and high on drugs to remember the incident, and that he only turned himself to the police the following day after he was told by his mother that he had killed someone.
Sateki recounted to the court “She told me I killed someone last night and I don’t believe her, and then I asked ‘are you serious?”
"And then she repeated the words again, that I killed someone, and then I don't know, I feel sick in the stomach.”
Sateki argued that he did not intend to kill Mr Ventigadoo but the jury disagreed and returned a guilty verdict after only two days of deliberation.
Ventigadoo’s family welcomed the decision but were angered by Siale’s excuses. The victim’s sister told Australian 9 news “You can get drunk, you can take drugs and you can kill anybody and it’s an excuse. It’s not an excuse!”