15 Sep 2015

Witness admits going to house to get cannabis

4:29 pm on 15 September 2015

A witness who was with a man fatally shot at close-range in Hamilton earlier this year says they were in the street to get drugs.

Tyson-Tainui Rukuwai-Te Tomo

Tyson-Tainui Rukuwai-Te Tomo Photo: Tyson-Tainui Rukuwai-Te Tomo

Tyson-Tainui Rukuwai-Te Tomo, 17, is on trial in the High Court in Hamilton for the murder of Michael Thompson, who was 29.

A second teenager, Mana Williams, is charged with wounding with intent to injure.

Under cross examination, Samuel Apanui, who was with Mr Thompson, admitted they went to the Melville address to swap vegetables for cannabis.

He also told the court Mr Thompson was a patched member of the Black Power gang.

When the two men arrived, they got into a verbal altercation with the two accused, which then became physical, and ended with Mr Thompson being shot.

Mr Apanui said he and Mr Thompson did not pursue the two accused with the aim of giving them a beating.

He denied that Mr Thompson had grabbed a slug gun from one of the accused and had fired it himself at them.

Mr Rukuwai-Te Tomo's lawyer, Adam Couchman, asked Mr Apanui if he had called Black Power members on the phone after Mr Thompson was shot and before calling emergency services but he denied that.

He also denied Mr Couchman's suggestion the second gun disappeared before police arrived..

Justice Hinton and a jury of seven men and five women are hearing the trial, which is expected to take up to two weeks.