Walter George Tauatevalu, 37, has denied a charge of attempting to murder Sergeant Simon Tate but at the High Court in Auckland today he admitted an alternative count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to do so.
Mr Tate, who was working alone in Auckland on September 7 last year, was left with bleeding on the brain, several broken bones and the first police officer on the scene, who had worked with him in the past, was unable to recognise him.
The incident happened on the night of the Otara Scorpions rugby league club prize-giving at the Manukau Velodrome.
Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey said Tauatevalu was there with his wife and had become angry over the course of the night.
He admitted punching her several times in the car after the pair left the venue and another person who had been at the function called police, the court was told.
When the couple turned into nearby Sandrine Ave, Mr Tate pulled them over and began speaking to the defendant's wife who was in the passenger seat.
The Crown alleged that while he did so, Tauatevalu got out of the driver's seat and attacked the officer from behind.
As the alleged assault progressed, his wife checked Mr Tate's patrol car to see if there was another officer and upon finding it empty "fearing for her safety, drove away".
The woman who made the initial police call had followed the two cars and Mr McCoubrey said the three people in that vehicle, who had come from the prize-giving, would give evidence of Tauatevalu viciously stomping on Mr Tate's head as he lay on the pavement.
"One will say she saw he left the ground, jumped in the air and landed one foot on the officer's head and kept kicking after that," Mr McCoubrey said.
The women tried to intervene but were brushed away, he said.
Both the Crown and defence lawyer Graeme Newell agreed the case was not legally complex and would come down to Tauatevalu's intent.
"There has to be the presence of a specific intent to actually kill. It's not a question of causing serious harm and not caring about the consequences," Mr Newell said.
"You can't guess what's in someone's mind in a matter as serious as this."
The trial in front of Justice Graham Lang and a jury of nine women and three men is expected to last a week.
By Rob Kidd of APNZ
