‘Only four accused in room’

Press, 4 December 1979, Page 7

‘Only four accused in room’

The Courts

Only four accused were in the bedroom of the State house at 7 Bayley Place. Spreydon. in the early hours of Friday, July 13. when Peter Haimona was shot, and Raymond Barrv Bradlev was rot one of them. Mr M. J. Glue said in the Supreme Court yesterday when opening the defence case. Bradley is the only one of the five young men. jvho have been jointly charged with the murder of Mr Haimona. who is giving evidence. The other four accused have elected not to call evidence. Evidence in the Crown case was completed shortly before 3 p.m. yesterday. The trial started on November 19 and is nor expected to finish before Thursday. The Crown called 35 witnesses. Messrs B. McClelland. Q.C.,

and B. M. Stanaway appear for the Crown. The accused are: Matthew Morgan King, aged 20. unemployed (Mr L. M. O’Reilly); Wayne Edward Gush, aged 23, unemployed (Mr K. N. Hampton); Anthony Joseph Johnston, .aged 22, a laminator (Messrs P. G. S. Penlington, Q.C., and R. A.; Osborne); Russell James Pirie, aged 24, unemployed ’ (Mr R. L. Kerr) and Bradley,! aged 19. a moulder (Mr! Glue). The Crown alleges that! King shot Mr Haimona three; times at almost point blank range with a .22 rifle during a long-standing feud between two groups of young men caused by a woman. Opening his case Mr Glue said that Bradley’s defence was that he did no more than drive the van in which the group travelled to Bayley,

Place. Bradley had no idea that any person was going to be killled and it was not until some hours after the event that he knew a man was dead. Bradley never entered the, house in Bayley Place and was some distance away at the van in Domain Terrace when the shooting took; place. He was not an assoI ciate of the other four’ ! accused and had only known; (Gush for a brief period. It was obvious from the ; Crown evidence that Bradley ■was the outsider in the. ’group. He had not been at the party when the bottle was thrown through the window. provoking rhe expedition to Bayley Place. “The only reason why Bradley is in this Court today is because the others needed transport and it was ,bad luck for him that he

happened to be visiting the. house next door in Cuba': Street with his van.” Mr I Glue said. Bradley did not know Rocky or Hudson Hill and' had only vaguely heard of “Black Pete,” the name by; which Mr Haimona was: known. The feud had nothing to do with him and he was in no way involved in it. When Bradley drove the van to Spreydon he thought that the others were going, there to give Rocky Hill a; hiding. Bradley had no mur-. derous intent towards Mr: Haimona or any other person then or at any other; time, said Mr Glue. Earlier in the day Detective Raymond Homan said that at 12.30 p.m. on July 14 he went to a flat in River! Road where he found Pirie’ in bed with Phillipa Stret-' ■ tell, and he told him that he i wanted to speak to him about a murder the previous; day at 7 Bayley Place. At the Central Police Station Detective Homan, after; giving Pirie the usual cau-[ ■ t.ion, said he had reason to I believe that Pirie was in(volved, and he wanted to get I his side of the story. Pirie had replied: “Look mate I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s got nothing to do with me.” 11 ’was admitted by Pirie that he had been to Cuba Street on Thursday but had left , about 8.30 p.m. to go to the Gladstone Hotel with Phillipa Strettell. He drank bourbon, raspberry and ice ’and left at closing time. He ;was always the last to leave ’the hotel.

While he was outside with Phillipa Strettell, leaning against a wall, a mate came past in a car and they stumbled over and got in. They went to a party. Asked where the party was Pirie claimed that he had not the faintest idea. He must have known someone there because they were not thrown out. ( “I found a nice chair, curled up with a bourbon and ’crashed out,” Pirie had said. '’Pirie admitted that he had ■ taken valium and “smoked a (bit of pot.” ■| Detective Homan said Pirie had agreed that ’ne ’ knew Gush, but denied going to his place after the hotel closed but admitted that he I had been there earlier in the 1 evening. He denied going to ■ Bayley Place with a mach- , ete. t, “Not me man.” Pirie had ; i replied. “I read in the paper ■ I some guy was killed around ’there and hell that’s murijder.” , i In reply to further questltions Pirie said: “As you i i seem to know so much s(about it. book me. You just 3’want me to admit it.” Pirie (had denied saying anything f! about cutting this person’s (hand off or getting him in (th knee cap. 1: After reading a written -(statement made by Gush, e; Pirie said: “I am frightened, i guess I will go down. Look I r | went around there but 1 1 j didn’t think we would kill ■(him. I have said it now but I that’s between you and me.” r | When Pirie had finished ®’reading the statement made T by Johnston, Pirie was taker 3 to Detective Inspector P. S. Seaman, the officer-in-charge, who told him that the police had the Hill’s side of the story and they s wanted his. Pirie agreed t< e make a statement. j i Pirie agreed that he .had been with the other: (when they went to Bayley 0 (Place and that he had t . baseball bat and a machete but he had not taken tin j; machete inside as he n ' dropped it as he went in. k “Hell, man, this is the bit one isn’t, it. I never _though

we would kill anyone,” Pirie had said. In the statement read by Detective Homan, Pirie said that h<- was unemployed and on the dole. He had only been frequenting Wayne: Gush's house at 19 Cuba Street for three weeks at the most. During that time various windows had been smashed with bottles and a Molotov cocktail had been' thrown at the house. “On the night of the in- ’ cident I returned with Phillipa Strettell. We were sit-1 ting listening to music and having a few drinks and i laughs. Then smash — a ( bottle comes straight| through the window and on’, to the desk table. This had. been going on for quite a' while,” Pirie had said. Everyone was running ’ around with guns. He did I not know who had the guns, ’because he was too busy! looking for something him-1 'self. He found a children’s! I baseball bat. Someone had ’said: “Okay we hit tonight. |We are sick of it. When you I can’t sit around quietly having a few drinks without (bottles thrown through our (windows there is definitely ■ something wrong.” “I wouldn’t know Rocky Hill from a bar of soap. The first 1 had heard of that name was at Wayne’s place. The next minute we were in the van with guns and that. I said specifically: ‘No shooting unless you have reasonable provocation and ’your life is in danger.’ “We arrived and parked around the corner. 1 had the baseball bat. 1 dropped the : machete somewhere along

: the drive and picked it up |on the way out," Pirie said ’in the statement. As far as he was concerned they were only going there to claim compensation ■ for damage done to the ■ household in Cuba Street and “to scare the living dayjlights out of this so-called Rocky Hill.” “After we got inside we ran to where the light was and one of the biggest men I have ever seen in ray life i came hurtling at us. Wayne '(Gush) and I naturally took this as a threat to our well- ■ being and therefore retaliated. We grappled with him and there were fisticuffs. Wayne had the sawn-off shotgun. “This monstrous Maori grabbed the gun by the barrel and tried to take it off Gush. This is when I broke loose of his grip and grabbed the baseball bat. It is pretty light. I hit him in the head with it and it did ’ not faze him at all, and ’boy, was I scared. “I thought this guy was [going to spread us all over i the walls. So I hit him twice ■ more and then he let go of the sawn-off shotgun and fell against the wall. 1 did not hear any shots fired, I i really didn’t. Mrs Hill was , yelling and screaming so . much you would not have . heard an 88mm go off in ; there. “Somebody yelled: "Let’s ’ move’ and without the slightest hesitation I ran for my I life, picking up the machete ! on the way out,” Pirie said i!in the statement. •; He noticed a shoulder ■[wound on the Maori but did I,not see him shot. He did not 5 see what anybody else was doing because there was so 3 ’much confusion in the room. (He swore that there was no : j intention of killing anyone. = ’ “I still can’t quite grasp ■' the fact that a man has died i(because of Mrs Hill’s foolish • ’son’s doing. 1 am shocked 3 :and scared. When I -read the -'paper .1 freaked because J : realised 1 had been there anc ; I still can’t believe it,” Pirie's t statement concluded.