How do you react when it looks like someone's being killed right there in front of you?
A murder-accused inmate's lawyer posed that question to jurors as
One man has alleged he was sexually abused while Opetaia practised wrestling moves.
SUPPLIED/Stuff Another one alleged he drank bourbon and smoked cannabis with Opetaia before being sexually abused. On Tuesday, Opetaia told the jury he ran a boxing gym and a home for boys in Kelston, West Auckland, and managed Waitakere Boxing Association from the same address. The defendant told the jury he became an approved carer for boys aged between 13 and 16 and would care for about eight at a time. The way I structured the place it would be the last boys home they would be in, Opetaia said.
LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff
Former Child Youth and Family caregiver Earl William Opetaia faces multiple charges of sexual offending against the boys he was responsible for caring for.
A man says he was a teenager and in the custody of Child Youth and Family when a caregiver got him drunk and stoned on marijuana before sexually abusing him. The man, who cannot be named, has told a closed-court at the High Court in Auckland that the sexual abuse happened when he stayed at Earl Opetaia’s boxing gym and home for boys in West Auckland. His DVD recorded interview with the police was played to the jurors on Friday where Earl William Opetaia is on trial.