The lawyer a man accused of murder says his client did not know what was going to happen the night a Manurewa liquor store owner was killed.
Six men are charged with the murder of 30-year-old Navtej Singh and the aggravated robbery of his shop in June 2008. Another man is charged with being accessory to murder.
The lawyer for Tino Felise, Paul Borich, said in his closing address to the jury in the High Court at Auckland on Thursday that the Crown's evidence against his client seems to be that he is guilty of murder because he lied to the police.
He said Mr Felise told the police that he didn't drive to the liquor shop, although a number of witnesses say they saw him go off with the other men.
Mr Borich said this does not prove Mr Felise is an aggravated robber or murderer - all it proves is that he lied to police.
He said his client should be found not guilty on both charges.
Proper verdict 'manslaughter, not murder'
Earlier, the lawyer for the man who shot Mr Singh said his client was horrified by his behaviour and the terrible consequences of his actions.
Jonathan Down, the lawyer for Antilela Chan-Kee, says his client accepts that his actions caused Mr Singh's death.
But Mr Down called on jurors to resist what he called the almost irresistible urge to say that the man with the gun is guilty of murder.
He said that his client did not know that the gun was loaded and did not mean to pull the trigger, and that, reprehensible as that behaviour was, the proper verdict for his client is manslaughter, not murder.
