Lance Hall is on trial for the murder of Whangārei man Jason McNae in a knife attack at an apartment

Hall’s trial began today in the Supreme Court in Whangārei. Crown prosecutor Bernadette O’Connor told the jury about the incident, Hall’s background and the previous problems he was alleged to have had with people at the Morningside Road block of flats.

Around April 2023, Hall lived in an apartment with a woman before moving into a spare room in another apartment with a man named Cody Rudolph, with the agreement that he would buy groceries and contribute to the rent.

Rudolph didn’t know Hall before he moved in.

However, things began to change when Hall’s behavior changed and he became aggressive. The Crown alleges Hall was a methamphetamine user, a habit Rudolph did not approve of.

In the days leading up to the incident, Rudolph told Hall that he needed to leave because of his meth use, which Hall took offense to and allegedly threatened to stab him.

On this occasion, Rudolph called Hall’s partner, who managed to calm him down and ask him to stay until she could be there to pick him up.

On June 19, 2023, Rudolph went into town for an appointment and when he returned he found several people drinking in an open carport downstairs and smoking meth in the hallway of the apartment with someone he did not know.

Hall and his associate went downstairs and joined the party, and Rudolph later heard him calling for a swipe card. Rudolph threw away the swipe card, but when Hall couldn’t find it, he reportedly became angry.

Rudolph went down to help find the map and was allegedly hit in the face by Hall.

“We have to help him”

O’Connor said Rudolph asked his ex and mother of his child, Courtney Rapata, for help, saying he needed help getting a man out of his apartment.

Rapata was in a relationship with McNae and the court heard that when McNae heard Rudolph needed help, he responded by saying, “We have to help him.”

McNae drove Boston Tahitahi, who lived with them, Rapata and her sister Kelly Rapata, to the apartment complex and upon arrival allegedly saw Hall jumping around aggressively in the parking lot.

Kelly stayed by the car while the rest of the group walked past Hall and went up the stairs to check on Rudolph. Hall allegedly decided to follow them.

As Rapata and Tahitahi led the group upstairs, followed by Hall and McNae, she told the court she heard a bang.

“I thought Lance was calm. I didn’t think anything was going to happen and within seconds he had stabbed Jason… I’ve never heard a sound like that before,” she said through tears.

Hall allegedly said, “You better come and help him or he’ll die,” when she turned around and saw Hall with a pair of scissors in his hand.

“Do you want to die today?”

Rapata said she tried to get past Hall, but he started pointing the scissors at her and yelled, “Do you want to die today?”

She told the court she shouted at her partner to get out and get help as McNae exited the stairwell before collapsing against the car, bleeding out.

Rapata, Tahitahi and Rudolph managed to get past Hall to McNae, and as she tried to shelter behind the car door, Hall allegedly kicked the door and pushed her into the driver’s seat.

“He tried to break free and stab Jason again,” she said.

“It was crazy, we sat there watching my partner die while a madman jumped around tormenting us and laughing at us. That’s what we had to listen to while we were going through all of this.”

McNae was taken to the hospital but did not survive.

The Crown said Hall eventually ran away and was later found in a unit at the campsite on Ōtaika Road.

Hall is repped by Ron Mansfield KC and Connor Taylor, who opened with a different version than The Crown.

The defense argues that Hall was attacked by the group and feared for his life.

“Sometimes it’s human nature. “Men are steadfast and result in a combination of decisions made and things often spiraling out of control,” Taylor told the jury.

“Out of control for those involved who have no understanding of what could happen.”

“He was outnumbered”

Taylor said the Crown portrayed Hall as the aggressor when it was the other way around.

“He believed that a serious assault would ensue upstairs, it is this narrative that is relied upon as correct.

“To escape this serious attack, he resorted to a pair of scissors to injure and distract him so he could get past him and escape the danger. Hall was alone, he was outnumbered and that was his reality all along.”

Taylor said Hall had the scissors with him because he was knitting.

There was great emotion in the public gallery as CCTV showed the fatal moment McNae suffered the stab wound to the neck.

The footage showed the group chatting at the bottom of the stairwell before Tahitahi, Rapata and Hall, wearing a fluorescent orange shirt, climbed the stairs with McNae behind them.

Hall turns around and hits McNae in the neck with his right arm. McNae then climbs down the stairs and goes out the door.

Outdoor surveillance camera footage captured the frantic aftermath as several people jumped in to help McNae as he collapsed on the ground, while Hall can be seen kicking the car and pacing.

Hall is later caught on video cameras coming out the back door of a building and running down a hill.

Under cross-examination, Mansfield told Courtney Rapata that the group was ready to “teach this guy a lesson,” which she refuted.

Mansfield suspected that McNae and Tahitahi made a beeline for Hall and that Rudolph was trying to hide his appearance on the surveillance camera.

Mansfield said video surveillance did not capture the area at the bottom of the stairs where he claims Hall was hidden by McNae and Tahitahi.

“That’s wrong,” she replied.

“The entire time I was there I saw Lance and no one touched Lance.”

The trial before Judge Grant Powell is expected to last three weeks.

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has been working in digital media for five years. She joined NZME in 2023.