A Bay of Plenty man accused of shooting an unarmed Tauranga man claims he acted in self-defense after he and his partner were earlier violently assaulted and seriously injured during a home invasion.

The defendant, who has name suppression for legal reasons, is on trial in the Rotorua High Court and has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder.

Police found 30-year-old Jamin Roemaata Harrison’s body at a McLaren Falls Rd property on January 25, 2021 after officers responded to reports of a person being injured at the address.

During her opening address to the jury yesterday, Crown prosecutor Cindy Lee told the jury the trial was about the fatal shooting of Harrison just before 10pm that day after he, accompanied by a female associate, turned up at the property with the intention to buy some drugs to resell for cash.

Their arrival at the vehicle entrance gate set of a heat-activated sensor which alerted the occupants inside the property to their presence, she said.

Lee said the video camera at this gate captured Harrison waving at the occupants to announce his arrival, and the Crown says the defendant grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun, switched on the floodlights and made his way up on to a grass bank closer to Harrison.

The defendant loaded the shotgun and there was a short verbal exchange between him and Harrison, who was standing with his hands in his pockets, unarmed, in front of his car, she said.

“Within seconds of the defendant getting to his vantage point, he points the shotgun at Mr Harrison and fires a single shot from approximately 26 metres away.

“That one shot was so successful that it hit Mr Harrison’s chest and abdomen area and resulted in seven out of nine buckshot pellets remaining lodged in his body.”

“The shots dispersed to his chest, his abdomen and pelvic area ... Mr Harrison suffered significant injuries including to his liver, spleen, lungs, and aorta, and he died on the driveway.”

Lee said the defendant admitted possession of the shotgun and that he used it to shoot Harrison, but claimed that he shot him in self-defence, and told the 111 call operator immediately after the shooting that people visiting the address were “looking to kill him”.

The defendant also claimed he had been aiming at the car, but there was no evidence of any firearm-related damage to the vehicle, she said.

“The Crown says that you will find that there is a clear case for murder when the defendant takes a loaded firearm and shoots Mr Harrison standing unarmed on the driveway, patiently waiting for someone to greet him at the gate.”

Lee urged the jury to analyse the defendant’s actions and comments before and after the shooting, including the CCTV footage showing him moving towards the deceased with the shotgun loaded with buckshot, his calm manner during the 111 call, and what he told police.

“The Crown says the perceived threat was not imminent and there were other options open to the defendant to seek protection without the recourse to the use of force ... the force used here was far beyond what was reasonable in the circumstances. Mr Harrison is fatally shot within less than a minute of him getting out of the car.”

The jury was told the defendant and his partner had earlier been violently assaulted by a group of people during a home invasion and they were both taken to hospital for treatment but the defendant later discharged himself, Lee said.

“The defendant had told the police that that he would take matters into his own hands if these people tried to come back, and that is what he did.”

“The Crown says this was murder, taking into account the background in the lead-up to the shooting and the minutes before he pulled the trigger when he intended to kill Mr Harrison or intended to cause really serious harm knowing that death was likely, and he shot him anyway.”

Lee said the jury would be shown further CCTV footage from security cameras at the property, including footage from a driveway camera which showed Harrison in a verbal exchange before he was shot.

She told the jury they would hear evidence from 16 Crown witnesses, and they would also hear from a number of police officers and medical experts who would provide a more complete picture of what happened that day.

Defence lawyer David Niven urged the jury to listen carefully to the evidence and to keep an open mind.

“My client absolutely acknowledges he shot Mr Harrison, but what he says is that it was an act of self-defence as he feared for his life and that of his partner after earlier being subjected to a sudden violent assault [where] both suffered serious injuries.

Niven said the defendant did not accept he had murderous intent when he shot the deceased, but rather it was “self-defence” and self-defence was enshrined in the Crimes Act in certain circumstances, and he urged the jury to take into account the situation the defendant found himself in and what he believed the situation to be.

Justice Grant Powell is presiding over the trial, which is expected to take up to three weeks.