• A motorist’s manslaughter trial began after his partner jumped from their moving vehicle.
• Prosecutors allege the man punched the woman after she threw fried rice at him.
• The couple’s 10-year-old son witnessed the incident, leading to both adults receiving name suppression.

A motorist saw red after his longtime partner threw a takeout order of fried rice in his face as he was driving, jurors were told today as his manslaughter trial began in the High Court at Auckland.

Prosecutors say the woman jumped out of the couple’s moving vehicle in a South Auckland neighbourhood, resulting in a fatal head injury, because she feared further violence as the man repeatedly punched her in response to the fried rice insult.

The defendant, 29, and the woman who died both have name suppression to protect the identity of the Crown’s main witness - their 10-year-old son, who was in the back seat of the Honda Odyssey people mover at the time of the incident.

The couple had been running errands together on a Monday evening in October 2023 when they first started arguing after sending their son inside the Chinese takeaway to retrieve their order, prosecutor Charlie Piho said as he outlined the Crown’s case in an opening address.

While still parked, the woman got out of the people mover and began to walk off with keys to the defendant’s recently purchased motorbike. CCTV showed the defendant chasing after her.

“Give my f***ing keys!” he is alleged to have yelled, to which the woman responded by throwing the keys into a grassy area and continued to walk away.

A man is on trial for "fright response" manslaughter in the High Court at Auckland after his partner jumped out of their moving car on McKenzie Rd in Mangare in October 2023. Photo / Google Maps

The defendant then went back to the car and, with their son inside it, followed the woman and yelled for her to get in, prosecutors said. When she again refused, he grabbed her and pushed her into the vehicle before driving off, authorities allege.

The defendant’s driving was described as erratic as he continued to argue with the woman, to the point that the rice spilled off their son’s lap in the back seat.

“Look what you’ve done!” the woman allegedly told the defendant as she threw the spilled food at him.

“That appears to have been the last straw for [the defendant],” Piho told jurors, adding that instead of pulling over and de-escalating the situation, the defendant kept driving several minutes down several residential streets in Māngere.

“[He] refused to stop the car,” Piho said, adding that the woman and their son repeatedly asked him to stop as he punched her multiple times in the head and upper body out of anger. “She covered her head, grabbed his hands and told him to stop ...

“When [the woman] could not stop him, out of fear of further violence, she opened the front passenger door and jumped.”

The defendant is charged with what is called “fear response” manslaughter. To be found guilty, jurors must believe he caused his partner to fear violence; that such fear “contributed in a not insignificant way” to her exiting the vehicle; that the woman’s response “could have been forseen by a reasonable, responsible person” in his position; and that the woman’s response contributed to her death in a not insignificant way.

The manslaughter trial is taking place at the High Court at Auckland. Photo / NZME

Immediately after the woman jumped out, the defendant stopped the car, ran to her and tried to rouse her, prosecutors said today. He initially left police and bystanders with the impression that his partner jumped out unexpectedly during a heated but non-violent argument, Piho said.

But police later found their son crying on the side of the road and asked what had happened.

“My mum and dad were arguing,” the boy is alleged to have told the officer. “Dad then punched my mum in the face. Dad drove off and Mum jumped out of the car.

“They’re always arguing.”

Jurors are expected to view recorded interviews with both the defendant and his son.

When confronted about his son’s statement hours later, the defendant is alleged to have said he didn’t remember punching his partner but if his son said it happened he must have.

During a recorded interview a short time later, he suggested he was acting in self-defence and in defence of his passengers as his partner began throwing food at him and pulling his hair. He described a backhand push with a seven out of 10 force but not a punch.

The police interviewer pointed out there was blood spatter on the passenger-side ceiling of the vehicle. The defendant acknowledged it must have been gotten there during the scuffle, Piho said.

Defence lawyer Andrew Speed later gave a very brief opening statement in which he posed several questions he asked jurors to keep in mind over the next several weeks of testimony.

“Was opening the car door reasonably foreseeable [by the defendant] or was it an irrational, unpredictable reaction?” he asked.

The trial continues before Justice Michael Robinson and the jury.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.