Bountiful man ordered to stand trial in murder of wife's ex-husband

Bountiful man ordered to stand trial in murder of wife's ex-husband

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FARMINGTON — Following detailed testimony of a violent attack on his wife's ex-husband, a Bountiful man was ordered to stand trial for murder Wednesday.

When Teresa Beauregard spotted two men out the window of the car her husband was driving near 3534 S. Lexington Drive, she thought it was a fight. However, it soon became clear that the attack was one-sided, she said, with the apparent victim making no effort to retaliate or defend himself.

For eight minutes, Beauregard and her husband watched as she detailed what was happening in a 911 call. Beauregard testified Wednesday that she saw "a large man on top of a small man," punching him too many times to count.

"He was large, he was angry, he was bloody," Beauregard said of the man later identified as Heneli Kaufusi, 35.

The smaller man, 37-year-old Sione Mangisi, lay on the ground, motionless except for the impact of the blows.

Kaufusi, who is listed as 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 330 pounds, is charged with murder, a first-degree felony. Police described Mangisi as 6 feet tall and 220 pounds.

According a police search warrant, the two men exchanged text messages about child custody and visitation before the altercation on Oct. 14, 2015. Mangisi had previously been married to Kaufusi's wife.

As the Beauregards watched from their car, the attack got worse, the woman testified. Kaufusi stopped punching Mangisi, instead kneeing and then kicking him.

Then "the big man stomped on the little man. He stomped on his head," Beauregard said, her voice quiet and trembling at the memory of as many as eight blows. "I just wanted it to stop."

In a recording of the 911 call, Beauregard cried out as she described Kaufusi stomping on Mangisi's head.

"He's going to kill him," she told the dispatcher.

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Beauregard testified that Kaufusi briefly paused his attack after stomping on Mangisi, appearing to take a phone from his pocket and snap a photo of the bloodied man lying on the ground. He walked away just long enough for Mangisi to stand, before returning and shoving the man into the street.

"The guy is coming back. … It's going down again. Now he's throwing him into the road," Beauregard told the dispatcher, who had told her police were on the way. "Tell them to hurry," she said.

Mangisi grabbed ahold of a parked SUV and pulled himself up, where police said Mangisi left a pool of blood behind him and smeared on the SUV. The first officer arrived on scene and Mangisi was later rushed by ambulance to a nearby park where a medical helicopter could land, dying before he could be transported.

Bountiful police officer Michael Sheldon, the first to arrive on scene, described the injuries to Mangisi's face as so extensive, his features were indistinguishable. As they waited for medical crews to arrive, Mangisi said he was thirsty, which training told Sheldon meant the man's condition was grave.

"I knew immediately when he began asking me for water it was a very critical situation. We needed to provide medical care as soon as we could," Sheldon said.

Assistant medical examiner Pamela Ulmer testified that Mangisi died of blunt force trauma to the head and torso, with existing hypertension and cardiovascular conditions contributing. The death was ruled a homicide, she said.

Arraignment for Kaufusi has been set for Feb. 22.

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McKenzie Romero

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