After Aiden Sagala’s death, manslaughter-accused Himatjit Singh Kahlon tried to retrieve the cans of “Honey Bear House Beer” he’d given him, a witness said today.
Kahlon gave Sagala trays of beers early last year, including some that contained meth, the Crown said. After drinking from one of the cans, 21-year-old Sagala fell ill and later died.
At the time of his death, Sagala was living with his sister Angela Sagala and her now-husband Billy Anelusi.
Anelusi told the jury at Kahlon’s trial in the High Court at Auckland that Aiden said he’d got the beers from “a guy named Jimmy” at work. The court earlier heard that Kahlon went by Jimmy.
Manslaughter-accused Himatjit Singh Kahlon pleaded not guilty in court today to Aiden Sagala’s March 2023 death. (Source: 1News)
Anelusi said he, Aiden and a friend planned to drink the Honey Bear beers on March 2, 2023: “It was a hot day… Felt like it was a good day to have a few beers.”
He took out two cans, one for him and one for the friend, Anelusi said: “I noticed one can was really soft, and it seemed a bit dodgy”.
So he put that one back in the fridge and got some glasses, Anelusi continued. The group caught up and listened to music.
Aiden was by the kitchen at one point, Anelusi said: “We didn’t notice that he took a can out.”
After Aiden consumed it, he ran to bathroom — maybe to clean his teeth — the witness continued. When Aiden came out, he said “those beers taste salty”.
Anelusi tried it straight from the can and his first reaction was to spit it out because of the “salty, chemical taste”, he said.
Then, “the night went on” — before Aiden went into his room, to call his mum, Anelusi said.
“Then he ran out… He came storming out looking at us… He said to me, ‘Uce I’m about to die’.”
‘I didn’t know what was going on’
Aiden looked like “he was about to turn into a statue”, Anelusi said. “He just collapsed face down to the floor.
“I went over to wake him up, I though he was joking.”
When Aiden woke back up, it was like “he was possessed”, the witness continued.
He pinned Aiden down because he was swinging around and he was worried he’d hurt himself.
“I didn’t know what was going on, we were so lost.”
Anelusi called Angela and the friend called an ambulance. When Aiden’s sister got home, she went straight to Aiden and was asking questions.
“His response was, ‘I want my mum’.”
‘I found nothing’
Later, Anelusi recalled hearing by FaceTime that Aiden had meth in his system.
“I was fuming, I was mad,” he told the court. So, he “turned [Aiden’s] room upside down” to look for drugs: “I found nothing.”
He’d never seen Aiden taking illegal drugs or been aware of him taking drugs, Anelusi said.
The defendant
That night, Anelusi messaged Kahlon to say Aiden wouldn’t be coming into work the next day, he said.
Kahlon asked questions, Anelusi continued — but he just said Aiden “had a seizure, he collapsed”.
He spoke with Kahlon again “a few days after”, Anelusi said, and he saw him in person at Kahlon and Aiden’s shared workplace at one point. He also said Kahlon visited Aiden in hospital.
Another time, Kahlon came to Anelusi, Angela and Aiden’s home, the witness said: “It was strange.”
‘Do you still have the beers?’
Kahlon messaged asking to come over to talk, Anelusi said, adding he assumed it was about Aiden.
He said Kahlon talked about “feeling guilty or something”. Anelusi told him to stay calm, he said.
“His response was, ‘Do you still have the beers?’,” the witness said. “I asked him, ‘What for?’.
“His response was, ‘I just want to drink them’.”
Anelusi said he said no, because Kahlon drove there and he was worried about him drinking and driving.
“He wanted them so badly — and it came to me, it clicked,” the witness said. So, Anelusi told Kahlon he’d got rid of the beers.
“He didn’t come over to talk about Aiden… He came over for those beers.”
Anelusi hadn’t actually tipped them all down the sink, he continued, though he had opened some that were “soft” and tipped them out.
He said the contents were “gooey and clear”.
Anelusi said he messaged his friend and asked: “Can you smuggle drugs into a can?”
The witness couldn’t remember the exact date of his exchange with Kahlon, but said it was after Aiden died.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Emma Priest, he agreed Kahlon seemed “relieved” when he was told the beers had been poured out.
Beers for good work
One of Kahlon and Aiden’s coworkers took the stand today as well. He drank a number of Honey Bear beers given to him by Kahlon.
Kahlon said if they “smashed the workload or finished a job”, he’d give them free beers, the witness said.
He said Kahlon gave him, Aiden and another man beers on March 1 — and on the morning of March 3, after Aiden was hospitalised, Kahlon asked for the beers back.
Under cross examination, the coworker agreed Kahlon had seemed like a hard worker and a good team leader, and he thought the free beer was generous.
He said he’d asked Kahlon where the beers came from and the defendant said he’d got them “off a friend of his”.
‘I could hear my brother in the background screaming’
Angela also gave evidence today. She’s a physician at North Shore Hospital.
She said Aiden had moved up from Wellington in October 2022, to live with her and Anelusi in One Tree Hill.
He started working that month. Later, “there was a time when he mentioned to me that he had free beers from his colleague”, Angela said.
She said she asked him to make sure they were “legit” — but he replied they were from a friend he knew and trusted, she continued.
She first saw the beers sometime in early February 2022, she said, adding she saw him drink one of them that month.
On March 2, Angela and a friend went to Onehunga wharf while Anelusi, Aiden and their friend were at home making plans for Anelusi’s stag party, she said.
Then, Anelusi called her and said “Aiden was agitated”, the witness said.
“He called me and I could hear my brother in the background screaming, calling out my mum’s name”.
She sped through “a lot of” red lights on way home and when she got there, Aiden was “on the floor”, she said. Anelusi was trying to “calm him down”.
He was “in a fit” and had “turned blue”, Angela added. She’d “seen that one before” in her work; it was an overdose, she said.
In hospital, a doctor mentioned that “there were positive signs of methamphetamine in his system”.
“I was shocked,” Angela said. She said her brother didn’t take recreational drugs.
Under cross-examination by Priest, she said she hadn’t heard the name Kahlon at the time.
She agreed there was at least one other occasion when Aiden had drunk a Honey Bear beer given to him at work without incident.