Fatal point-blank shot

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34105, 18 March 1976, Page 18

Fatal point-blank shot

GV.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, March 17. Injuries to Bradley Earl Haora indicated that a shotgun had been fired with the muzzle against his head, the Auckland Magistrate’s Court was told today by an Auckland pathologist, Francis John Cairns. Depositions were being heard against 12 men jointly charged with Haora’s murder, at 23 Prospect Terrace, Mt Eden, on December 29. The depositions, which began on Monday, are being heard by Mr H. Y. Gilliand, S.M. Dr Cairns said he found Haora’s body with a large wound in the head, the right eye protruding from its socket, and the left eye missing. Haora had also suffered superficial injuries which suggested he had been involved in a scuffle.

The large wound on the head had been caused by a shotgun fired in contact with the head, just above the inner edge of the left eyebrow. It appeared to have been fired by a person standing above

him, and Haora appeared to have been sitting at the time Dr Cairns said Haora would have died within a • few minutes of the shot’s being fired. Peter John Olsen said he had lent his car to one of the defendants on the night of December 28. The defendant had not returned it as promised the next morning. Isabel Rosa Powell said , she lived next to 21 Prospect Terrace, and was awakened in the early hours of Decem-

ber 29. At first she tried to ignore the noise. "Then I heard what I thought was a gunshot, and I started to listen. I though at first it might have been my imagination,” she said.

She had heard people running down the shingle drive, and two cars leaving. She had then heard shouting and crying coming from the house. Girls were crying, “He is dead,” and “They have killed him.” William Rutherford, a landscape gardener, also of 21 Prospect Terrace, said he heard about four people running outside. He also heard what sounded like a shotgun being fired. Martin McKenna Smith said he found a blue shotgun cartridge near the comer of Dominion Road and Prospect Terrace when he parked his car on the morning of December 29. He gave the cartridge to the police. Detective Constable John Ronald Wilson said he found the body of Haora in an annex of the house at 23 Prospect Terrace. There was a substantial wound near the left eye and forehead. The wound was about four inches long by two inches wide. Michael Brian Paikea said he had known one of the

defendants for a year or two. He had discussed the theft of the defendant’s motorcycle. The two had driven along Prospect Terrace, and Paikea had pointed out No. 23, where the Highway 61 gang members lived. The defendant thought his motorcycle might be at the address.