Guilty: Jealous rage led to murder | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

Ana Andrea Hemara was yesterday found guilty of  murdering  Wanganui woman Heather Rose Simons.

It took the jury little more than three hours to return and deliver its guilty verdict to Justice Robert Dobson in the High Court at Wanganui.

At the beginning of the trial on Tuesday, Hemara pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Ms Simons on February 14 last year.

Crown prosecutor Lance Rowe told the court  Hemara, 44, had had murderous intent to kill Ms Simons.

Hemara had lived one week in her partner's home in Titoki St when she saw Ms Simons hanging out washing and invited her over to share a drink.

But a neighbourly drink with the couple turned horribly wrong when Hemara took offence at what she described  as Ms Simons "coming on to her partner".

When she admitted assaulting Ms Simons, Hemara said she had pulled her from her chair  then continued to punch her head and stomp on her back and head with her bare feet.

She told police she was aware that repeated kicks to the head could kill someone but she had carried on with the assault because she wanted to.

Ms Simons was a cerebral palsy sufferer with 30-40 per cent loss of mobility on her right side.

In his summing up on Thursday, Mr Rowe told the jury that Hemara had  "demonstrated awareness and [had] complete understanding of what was going on" during her assault on Ms Simons.

Hemara's counsel Stephen Ross said his client was guilty of manslaughter, not murder, and that her assault on Ms Simons was fuelled by jealousy while under
the influence of alcohol and
drugs.

Mr Ross' submission was that although Hemara admitted assaulting Ms Simons, she  had not meant to kill her.

He said  Hemara's assault on Ms Simons was driven by the "extremely destructive emotion ... jealousy" but the critical issue was what was on her mind at the time of the attack.

Justice Dobson's direction to the jury was that the onus of proof was on the Crown. It had to prove beyond reasonable doubt that this was a case of murder.

Hemara will be sentenced in the High Court at Wellington on March 12.

After the verdict was delivered, Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Bensemann of Wanganui police told the Chronicle all murders were senseless.

 He thanked Ms Simons' family for their support throughout the trial, and Detective Constable Graham Perks for the near completion of a "very professional investigation".

Outside the courtroom  after the verdict, Hemara's mother and aunt,  who had been in court each day of the trial, told the Chronicle: "On behalf of all our family, we say to Heather's family, we are sorry."

Hemara's partner, Michael Douglas Christison, 22, was  jailed for a year on September 23 last year for attempting to pervert the course of justice. Christison was not a participant in the killing but, in the immediate aftermath, deliberately misled police.