A gang member and his partner accused of killing one man and wounding another at a 50th birthday party were so desperate to leave town they fled Wellington leaving their child behind.

That’s according to the Crown, but the defence denies that version of events. Instead, they say the pair were not aware anyone was injured, let alone killed, as they left the party that night.

The gang member’s lawyer, Elizabeth Hall, said by firing the gun, the man had killed a fellow gang member and good friend Rawiri Zane Wharerau, which was not his intention.

The woman’s lawyer, Letizea Ord, said her client had not fired the gun or ordered her partner to shoot anyone and had no idea how things were going to unfold that night.

The couple, who have name suppression, deny charges of murder and attempted murder after the shootings at the birthday party in Stokes Valley in 2023. The woman also denies an additional charge of assault with a weapon.

Wharerau, 39, was killed, and his 41-year-old brother, Hemi, narrowly escaped the same fate following the party in the early hours of December 16, 2023.

Crown: He’d ‘disrespected’ her man

Opening the Crown’s case in the High Court at Wellington, Crown prosecutor Wilber Tupua told the jury the shootings took place during a night of festivities to celebrate the 50th birthday of Wharerau and Hemi’s cousin, Robert Huaki Senior, at their house in George St, Stokes Valley.

Wharerau and the man now facing charges were both patched members of Mangu Kaha — a gang associated with Black Power.

The Crown alleges the couple were at the party when they got into a heated argument with Huaki Senior. During the fight, the woman allegedly told Huaki Senior he had “disrespected” her man.

The couple got into their car and left the party. Wharerau also got into the car and sat in the back seat to try to resolve tensions between the man and Huaki Senior, Tupua said.

The couple drove back to their house a short distance away, and the man collected a gun, which the Crown says was a semi-automatic rifle. They returned to the party.

From that point, Tupua told the jury, things escalated, and what happened next was the starting point of what transpired later that night.

The man got out of the car, stood on the road and started waving the gun around. Huaki Senior tried to apologise for his earlier comments, but the man allegedly punched him, knocking him unconscious.

Wharerau and Hemi saw what was happening and intervened. Another argument ensued. Both victims fought with the couple. Hemi was left with cuts to his head and ear after the woman allegedly hit him with the butt of the rifle, which she was seen brandishing and pointing at people.

Eventually, everything stopped and, again, the couple left the address. Wharerau and Hemi returned to the party.

 
Police guard the scene following the death of Rawiri Wharerau in 2023. Photo / Georgina Campbell.

Come back and ‘sort it out’

Again, the couple went home, this time changing out of their clothes. The Crown says Wharerau rang and told the man to come back to the party and “sort it out”, referring to the earlier fight on the street.

Tupua said that had angered the man and he again returned with the gun.

After returning to the party and getting out of the car, the man accused people of taking $2000 from him. Tupua said the couple ran up the driveway and appeared to be “hyped up”.

As they approached the house, the man allegedly fired towards a gazebo that had been erected for the party at the side of the house. Hemi was shot in the abdomen, groin and leg.

Following the first shots, there was a brief pause before Wharerau was shot. The court heard he died from a lethal gunshot wound to his abdomen, which caused massive internal bleeding and blood loss.

Just after 2am, the couple arrived back at their house. Tupua said CCTV footage from the couple’s house showed the gun never left the car and was never seen again.

Just after 3am, footage again showed the couple leaving the house. Tupua said the Crown’s case was they wanted to get away so quickly they left their young child behind in Wellington.

A few hours after the shooting, the Crown said the woman texted her friend saying she was “heartbroken, but would absolutely do the most for her man”.

The Crown’s case is that when they drove back to the party, fatally shooting Wharerau and injuring Hemi, they went back to seek vengeance.

They say when the man shot Wharerau he was reckless and intended to hurt him. His partner was a willing participant.

The pair were arrested in January outside Wellington.

They had a good reason to leave: lawyer

In brief opening statements, lawyers for the couple argued their clients were not guilty.

“Keep an open mind ... there was a good reason for the two to leave the Hutt Valley,” Hall told the jury, adding it was not the police he was fleeing.

Hall said when the party started that night everyone had been in good spirits, but after people start drinking, inevitably, conflicts break out.

Hall said the gun belonged to the gang and the man was returning it to Rawiri. He’d fired the fatal shots because he felt threatened and because others at the party were “bearing down” on him, she said.

Hall said he had not fired the shots to hurt Rawiri and Hemi, but in a bid to stop himself from being attacked. “He was trying to get away.”

Meanwhile, Ord asked the jury to consider if a woman was responsible for the actions of her man.

Her client did not shoot or kill anyone, she said.

She said the woman had never ordered her partner to shoot anyone, and this was a case where she’d been there when things had gone wrong.

“She was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Ord said.

What had happened was not only unexpected, it was a complete shock to her client, she told the jury.

The trial, before Justice Dale La Hood, is set down for five weeks.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.