Titoki Street murder trial witness ‘certain’ ute belonged to accused

The Crown alleges it was George Walker’s distinctive ute that stopped at the Childers Road end of Titoki Street just before two bullets flew from that direction, one of which killed Maraea Smith. Defence counsels have questioned whether the vehicle seen was Walker’s, who might have been in it, and whether the bullets came from that direction. NZ Police picture

A murder trial witness says she is certain it was the accused’s ute that sped past her in the dark and stopped at the Childers Road/Titoki Street intersection where someone with “a large silhouette” got out and yelled “Sieg f****** Heil” before two shots were fired.

Although she didn’t know George Hallet Walker — only that people called him “Smoky” — she knew that was his vehicle. She had seen it in the neighbourhood more than once before.

Crown prosecutors allege Walker fired two .303 calibre shots from beside his vehicle at that intersection when it stopped there about 9.55pm on March 25. One of the bullets, though never recovered, allegedly hit a grass verge about 50 metres from him; the second travelled about 85 metres before it hit and fatally wounded Maraea Smith who was on the pavement.

The trial by jury of Walker, 36, — a Mongrel Mob member —  and his partner Mercedies Grace, a Mob affiliate, began in the High Court at Gisborne last Monday. Walker is charged with being the gunman who murdered Ms Smith; Grace with being a party to the murder by driving him to and from the scene.

The Crown alleges Ms Smith was an innocent bystander. Walker didn’t intend to shoot her but intended to shoot at a group of rival Black Power affiliates in further retaliation for an attack by them on a vehicle outside a Mongrel Mob house earlier that night, during which Grace was also assaulted.

Ms Smith was only outside that night because sometime after 9pm a vehicle used by the attackers was rammed into a fence at a house where she was visiting her sisters opposite the targeted vehicle. The house Maraea was visiting was not involved in the dispute. She and one of her sisters made the fateful decision to go in search of the car’s occupants to ask them to remove it.

It’s an accepted fact in the trial that Walker’s distinctive Nissan Nivara ute was the vehicle used to ram the car. However, defence counsel have questioned whether it was his vehicle seen at the intersection just ahead of the shooting, whether he and Grace were in it, and whether the bullets that flew came from that direction. Walker denied owning or shooting a firearm that night. No firearm has been recovered.

Giving evidence on day four of the trial, the Titoki Street resident said she went outside after hearing the commotion of the ramming.  A group was milling around the vehicle wedged in the fence, trying to get its boot open. Then they moved nearer to Childers Road and gathered on the pavement outside her house.

The resident said she knew the group were Black Power and “could see there was trouble”. She told them not to stop there.

However, events unfolded quickly.

Walker’s ute came screeching around the bend, sped past the rammed car and past her house. It was too dark outside and the ute windows were too heavily tinted to see its occupants. (earlier witnesses have said there were possibly about three people in the ute, making barking noises, as Mongrel Mob members do). The resident said that one of the Black Power group threw something like a wooden bat, which bounced off the ute.

She was sure two shots that were fired came from the direction of the ute when it stopped at the intersection.

She screamed when the first shot was fired, ducked down and moved as quickly as she could back towards her house.

Then another shot was fired, possibly a couple of seconds later. She heard a screech of tyres again. The vehicle had left.

The street was clear. Everyone had fled and then she noticed someone on the ground and someone holding them. She went to offer help.

In earlier evidence, the jury heard the Black Power group turned up at a property opposite the one Maraea visited that night. The house the group went to was the home of Mongrel Mob member Steven Parkinson, his partner, and their young children. They were having a birthday party for Parkinson’s mother-in-law. It was a family occasion, not a gang one.

However, tensions brewed earlier that day with a Black Power man next door and that night the Black Power group — possibly gang prospects —arrived.

Witnesses from the party said there were about four men in the group and they were carrying a variety of objects as weapons. One of them damaged a visiting family’s car with a metal pole. There was a verbal altercation between the group and partygoers.

Only the Black Power group had weapons, the partygoers said.

Walker’s partner Grace was there at the time and involved in the altercation, during which her hand was cut when she was struck by the pole.

Witnesses didn’t recall seeing her at the house again afterward but couldn’t rule it out.

Walker had only been seen briefly at the party earlier that night.

Under cross-examination, the partygoers said that after the vehicle was rammed, the Black Power group seemed determined to get into its boot. One witness said she heard them yelling “get the guns”.

One witness saw an item taken from the boot. He said it looked like a speaker box.

Another witness, clearly reluctant to give evidence, said that after the altercation she went inside and walked in on Parkinson getting a firearm. He put it back because “it didn’t work”, she said.

However, under re-examination by the Crown she said she hadn’t actually seen the firearm — it was something someone told her.

Two other witnesses said they were aware of a vehicle being driven past the house repeatedly earlier that night. One said he saw a laser pointed into the house. Asked if he thought it was from a firearm, he said no.

The jury was reduced in number to 11 on day five after Justice Peter Churchman discharged one person.