An alleged murderer made a "shhh" sign and a throat-slitting gesture to a nightclub employee before advancing on a Canberra bikie boss and plunging a knife into his neck from behind, court documents say.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The ACT Magistrates Court on Monday received the first detailed outline of the July 2020 incident that culminated in Canberra Comanchero commander Pitasoni Ulavalu lying dead in the gutter outside Kokomo's.
It was tendered as a set of agreed facts in the case of a 27-year-old man, who has pleaded guilty to a charge of affray and cannot be named because of a court order.
According to the document, that man and his five co-defendants attended a birthday party at a Red Hill home on July 18 last year.
The co-defendants are Frederick Tuifua, Maximilian Budack, brothers Matthew and Osaiasi Kupu, and another man who cannot be named for legal reasons.
All six made their way from the party into Civic about 11pm and decided to continue the celebrations at Kokomo's, where CCTV is said to have captured the relevant events.
The document says that within minutes of the revellers arriving, Mr Budack began arguing with bikies Zachary Robb and Shane Houghton, who were there with Mr Ulavalu and fellow Comanchero Taniela Tai.
Kokomo's security guards forcibly removed Mr Budack when the altercation turned physical, and the party group left the venue for a short time before returning just a few minutes before midnight.
Mr Budack had a scuffle with security on the way back in, according to the document, while Mr Tuifua allegedly pulled a knife from his right pants pocket and "concealed it against his stomach".
"About this time, a Kokomo's employee was standing behind the front reception desk when he observed Tuifua ... holding something in his right hand," the document tendered on Monday says.
"Tuifua put his finger up to his lips, making a 'shhh' motion, and swiped his hand across his throat in a slicing motion."
Mr Tuifua then allegedly re-entered Kokomo's about midnight and rushed towards Mr Houghton with the knife in his hand.
Mr Houghton picked up a chair and used it to fend Mr Tuifua off, according to the document, as "a physical disturbance [began] with various members of both groups pushing and punching each other".
While Mr Ulavalu was trying to break the brawling groups apart, Mr Tuifua allegedly approached him from behind.
"Tuifua raised the knife in an arc to the right of his body, above shoulder height, and stabbed Ulavalu in the right side of his neck, just below his right ear," the document says.
"A significant amount of blood is immediately observed [on CCTV] coming from Ulavalu's neck as he stumbles towards the rear of the venue."
As the commotion continued, Mr Tuifua allegedly came up behind Mr Robb, who was being restrained by three men, and stabbed him once in the upper left thigh.
The document says Mr Tuifua then left the venue, followed closely out the door by Mr Ulavalu, who stumbled across the footpath on Genge Street before falling face-first onto the road, where he died.
Following an investigation into the 48-year-old's death, police arrested Mr Tuifua, Mr Budack and the Kupus at a hospital emergency department in early August.
The group had gone there after Mr Budack was shot three times in an incident detectives suspect to be a reprisal attack related to the events at Kokomo's.
The two men who cannot be named were arrested separately later that same month.
One of that pair pleaded guilty to affray when he made his most recent appearance in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday.
The charge he admitted to said he had "engaged in violent conduct" directed towards Mr Robb and Mr Houghton.
According to court documents, the man's involvement in the Kokomo's incident included punching Mr Robb in the head, shoving him into some bar stools and kneeing him in the head.
Magistrate James Lawton ordered a pre-sentence report and set the man's case down for sentence in May.
The other five defendants will all appear in court again later this month.
Mr Tuifua has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murdering Mr Ulavalu, and is yet to enter a plea to an allegation of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Robb.
Mr Budack and the Kupus, meanwhile, have all pleaded not guilty to affray charges, as has the other man who cannot be named.
