A woman whose cousin was shot dead in a driveway says she text him twice after the incident “to try and convince herself that he was still alive”.

Janelle Nicholas made the comment while giving evidence during a murder trial in the Rotorua High Court yesterday.

A Bay of Plenty man, whose name is suppressed, is defending a charge of murdering Jamin Roemaata Harrison, 30, having shot him dead in the driveway of a McLaren Falls Rd property on January 25, 2021.

The Crown says Harrison was unarmed when he turned up at the property to buy drugs, accompanied by his cousin Janelle Nicholas, about 10pm.

The defendant, whose trial began on Monday, told police he thought Harrison had a gun and claims to have acted in defence of himself and his partner after they were earlier violently assaulted and seriously injured during a home invasion, thinking the visitors at the gate were “looking to kill him”.

During questioning by Crown prosecutor Richard Marchant, Nicholas said that after receiving a text from Harrison asking for a ride to go and see “one of his punters”, she agreed to drive her cousin there in her mother’s car.

Nicholas said Harrison told her he could get some money through “punters” but he was waiting, which she understood meant getting the money via selling drugs.

Her cousin wanted to go and see one of his “bros” in McLaren Falls Rd, and once at the property, she drove up the driveway but the gate was closed.

Nicholas said her cousin got out of the passenger seat and walked up to the video-linked security gate to alert the people inside.

“I asked him if he was going to be all right, and he told [me] ‘All good my cuz’ as he walked away and stood in front of the car. "

She said she then heard a man’s voice asking Harrison who he was and what he wanted, and her cousin explained he had been told to come up there to “see a bro [the murder-accused]”.

“He got asked twice, and before my cousin could finish the sentence, I heard the shotgun go off. I heard my cousin yell, he dropped [to the ground] almost immediately, and I thought I was going to be shot too.”

A distraught Nicholas said she had thought about getting out of the car to grab her cousin.

“But I thought I might get shot if I did as I didn’t know these people, and started reversing back out of the driveway as fast as I could.”

Marchant asked Nicholas to explain two texts she sent to Harrison, one at 9.55pm after the shooting saying “see you when I get my cuz” and another the following morning saying “Hi my cousin. up this morning”.

“That’s when I tried to erase from my brain what happened, and I told myself that my cousin was still alive ... I was telling myself my cousin wasn’t dead in the driveway. It was the only way I could deal with it ... I was hoping I [would get] a reply ... It was almost like it had never happened.”

Defence lawyer Phil Hamlin challenged Nicholas as to why she did not mention her cousin was shot when interviewed by the police the next day, but instead told the officer that after Harrison hopped out of the car, she reversed down the driveway and went home.

“Yes, I didn’t tell them I was there because I didn’t know who those people were and I was scared for my own safety,” she said.

Nicholas said that she was there when her cousin got shot and “about one minute” later, she left and drove straight to her mother’s place without stopping because she didn’t know if the shooter was “going to blow her away”.

Hamlin also suggested to Nicholas that she had been “trying to give herself a cover or create an alibi” by sending the fake texts.

“No, not at all ... I was in shock and I just told myself my cousin wasn’t dead. That’s not lying, that’s telling myself my cousin is still alive,” she said.

Hamlin also asked Nicholas why she did not talk to the police when there was a patrol car parked on the same road that night.

“All I had in my head was getting home to my mum ... I had to go tell my mum, and that’s all I wanted to do,” she said.

Hamlin also challenged Nicholas about her account of the verbal exchange between Harrison and a man at the property, when the evidence of a Crown witness says they heard the deceased being told to leave and “get back in the car or I’ll shoot”.

Nicholas insisted “none of those comments were made” and wept as she described being “shocked and stunned” when her cousin was shot within a minute of their arrival at the property.

“I heard the voice, I heard the worst bang and I saw my cousin drop [to the ground] ... And then all I heard was the noise coming out of my cousin’s mouth.”

Nicholas said she then left and did not stop until she got home.

“I did nothing wrong, just gave a family member a ride.”

The trial continues.