The trial against an inmate who assaulted two other inmates at Arorangi Prison after suspecting they were messaging his partner began at the High Court of the Cook Islands yesterday.

The defendant Iorama Ngataua is representing himself in the three-day judge alone trial, presided over by Chief Justice Patrick Keane.

Ngataua is charged with threatening to kill, causing injury with intent and common assault.

In her opening statement, Crown Law prosecutor Sauimalae Viva-Maria Delilah Schuster said it could be hard to control one’s feelings especially when there is “a bit of infidelity” involving their partner and somebody else.

Schuster said it is the Crown’s case that the defendant was suspicious that his partner was messaging the two inmates, Teremoana Saddler and Marakai Mahitu.

She said the defendant became so angry he injured Saddler and assaulted Mahitu, believing they were trying to get involved with his partner.

It’s alleged that on Sunday, February 4, 2024, Saddler was resting in his cell, unaware of what was about to happen.

Crown prosecutor Schuster said the Court would hear evidence that after his partner’s visit, the defendant, in a fit of anger, entered Saddler’s cell, threatened him and struck him, causing a fractured shoulder and a laceration to the right side of his head.

On the same day, the defendant entered Mahitu’s cell, where the latter was sleeping, and struck him on the head. The defendant appeared pissed off and screamed at the complainant, challenging him to a fight.

Among the 10 Crown witnesses, inmate and complainant Saddler gave evidence that he and the defendant had spent time in prison together in the past.

In response to questions from Crown Law prosecutor Schuster, Saddler said he was resting that Sunday afternoon in his cell, woke up and saw the defendant in front of him. He said he could not hear what the defendant was saying.

Saddler claimed that he was threatened, had blacked out, and later woke up on the floor.

Defendant Ngataua referred to two statements Saddler made about the alleged offences, claiming they misrepresented what he (Ngataua) had said to Saddler that day.

The defendant asked Saddler if he had lied on the same statement, and Saddler said “no”. Asked if Saddler was lying in the courtroom, he answered “no”.

The trial continues today.