Luke William Belmont (left), Maru Michael Wright and Adrian John Rewiri are on trial for murder in the High Court at Rotorua.
Luke William Belmont (left), Maru Michael Wright and Adrian John Rewiri are on trial for murder in the High Court at Rotorua.
Nonsense, speculation, and guesswork.
This is how lawyers appearing on behalf of three Mongrel Mob members on trial for murder have described the prosecution’s case.
Luke William Belmont, Maru Puriri Michael Wright and Adrian John Rewiri are on trial in the High Court at Rotorua after pleading not guilty to the murder of David Kuka, 52. Rewiri also denies an alternative charge of being an accessory after the fact.
Kuka was shot twice on the evening of February 11, 2018, in Tauranga’s Gate Pā suburb.
The police investigation into his death, Operation Ubertas, eventually led to the arrests of four men.
One of those men, Dane Mark Pukepuke, has admitted his role in Kuka’s murder, but the trial of the remaining defendants is nearing the end of its third week.
The Crown’s case was that Belmont instigated the murder and instructed Pukepuke while Rewiri supplied the vehicle used and Wright acted as a driver and messenger on the night of the murder.
But in presenting closing arguments for Rewiri, defence counsel Quentin Duff said the Crown was asking the jury to make “a big leap”.
“To let another [Mongrel Mob member] take your car with a noisy wheel and an even noisier muffler is lending someone a stink car, it’s not foreknowledge of murder,” Duff told the jury.
Duff said Rewiri had bought the Ford Falcon AU for parts and scrapping.
“He never even drove that thing.”
Tauranga man David Kuka, who was killed in February 2018.
Duff said Rewiri’s lending of the car was “an ignorant act of good faith” and there was no evidence Rewiri knew Belmont or Pukepuke were in Tauranga the night the car was used.
“Why would you arrange for the collection of a car where there are CCTV cameras and witnesses if you knew it was going to be used for a murder?” Duff said.
Duff said the Crown’s case against Rewiri “barely made sense” in terms of motive because Rewiri had not attended Waite’s tangi and Rewiri’s Mongrel Mob chapter was not involved in “investigations” of Waite’s death.
“It’s an absolute nonsense. It’s speculation.”
Duff said it would be easy to look at his client’s face and fill gaps in the evidence with prejudice.
“This is a murder trial. Treat this information with the sort of rigour that you’d want applied if you were involved. That is how our system works.
“It doesn’t matter whether you are a captain of the Aotearoa Mongrel Mob or whether you are a CEO of a multinational company. When you walk into this courtroom the law says you’re an innocent person.”
Duff said the jury must find his client not guilty of murder.
“What did [Rewiri] know? Not that somebody was on his way to commit a murder that would turn his life upside down for a simple act of kindness.”
Appearing for Belmont, defence counsel Bill Nabney told the jury Pukepuke had acted alone, without Belmont’s knowledge.
“Ultimately you will be required to reach your decision not based on any prejudice or sentiment or sympathy. [Your decision] is going to be based on the evidence that’s been logged against Mr Belmont.”
Nabney said there was no evidence Belmont wanted to avenge Waite’s death.
“The mere fact that Mr Belmont went to Mr Waite’s tangi does not add to the Crown case against him.”
Defence counsel Craig Tuck, appearing on behalf of Wright, told the jury in his closing remarks it was the Crown’s job to do the proving.
“All [Wright] wants in this process is a fair go. That’s what you’re going to be delivering for him.”
Tuck said there was no CCTV footage, no phone data, no texts, no evidence of ill feeling and no evidence of any working relationship between Wright and Pukepuke or Belmont.
“The Crown say he was in the car because one witness said that he was but under the powerhouse of cross-examination that witness said: ‘I possibly was wrong’.”
