‘Knife in her skull’: Kāinga Ora tenant evicted after violent threat to neighbour
Wednesday, 1 July 2026
A social housing tenant who warned his neighbour was “getting a knife in her skull” has been ordered out of his Auckland home after the Tenancy Tribunal found the threat justified his eviction.
David Straker, who lived at a Kāinga Ora property in Mt Wellington, was ordered to leave after the Tribunal ruled a series of incidents of explicit threats of violence warranted eviction.
The public housing landlord initially attempted to rely on anti-social behaviour provisions for the termination when three qualifying incidents occurred within a 90-day period and appropriate notices are issued.
Those incidents included the January threat against the neighbour, a March phone call in which Straker used racial slurs and Nazi-related references while demanding a new housing manager, and a later confrontation with Kāinga Ora staff during a property inspection.
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According to the Tribunal decision, Straker said:
“If she passes my flat and gawks at me next time, she is getting a knife in her skull. Any more shit, things are going to escalate with violence. You'll see blue uniforms all over the place. Tell her to stay the f… away from me. Next time I'll chuck a knife into her.”
Adjudicator Haamid Ben Fayed found the comments amounted to a threat to assault and met the threshold for terminating the tenancy under the Residential Tenancies Act.
Kāinga Ora had sought to end the tenancy on two separate grounds, one of anti-social behaviour and the other of threat of assault.
During an inspection in March 27, Straker swore at staff members, used racist language and threw what appeared to be a butter knife as staff were leaving the property.
Police officers observed the visit from several metres away in case the situation deteriorated. Straker again used racist and inappropriate language and swore at the staff members.
As the staff members were leaving, he threw what appeared to be a butter knife, but it did not make contact with either staff member as they had sufficient time to close the glass door.
However, the Tribunal rejected Kāinga Ora's anti-social behaviour case, finding the landlord had waited too long to issue the third notice. The final notice was served 34 days after the incident and 104 days after the first event relied on by Kāinga Ora.
The adjudicator said the delay was difficult to reconcile with the time-sensitive nature of the anti-social behaviour provisions and undermined the argument that urgent intervention was required.
As a result, the Tribunal ruled Kāinga Ora could not rely on the anti-social behaviour regime to terminate the tenancy.
The Tribunal also found the butter knife incident did not amount to an assault or a threat to assault.
While describing the behaviour as “wholly inappropriate”, the adjudicator said it did not meet the legal threshold required under that section of the law.
Despite those findings, the January threat was enough on its own.
The Tribunal said the threat was “serious, explicit, and involved threatened violence with a knife”.
The adjudicator also pointed to Straker's continued behaviour after the January phone call, saying it demonstrated a pattern of volatility that raised concerns for neighbours, landlords and other tenants.
While granting possession to Kāinga Ora, the Tribunal also criticised aspects of the agency’s handling of the case, noting delays in issuing notices and questioning whether its actions reflected the urgency it later argued existed.