Witness to fatal shooting in Titoki Street found with firearm

A fortnight before giving evidence in court against the gunman who shot and killed a woman on Titoki Street, a nearby resident was herself found with a firearm.

Lena Mae Perrett, 45, gave evidence on May 18, this year, in a High Court jury trial in which George Hallet Walker was found guilty of murdering Maraea Smith during an incident in the street on March 25, 2022. Ms Smith had been visiting family to celebrate her 36th birthday and was out on the pavement at about 10pm when she was accidentally shot by Walker as he allegedly took aim in the dark at a group of rival gang associates.

The firearm used to shoot Ms Smith was never found but was believed to be a .303 calibre rifle due to a fragment of bullet recovered from her chest and a cartridge casing found near the spot on the road, from which Walker was believed to have fired two shots.

On May 2 this year, police searched Perrett’s house after officers noticed a stolen car in her driveway at about 7pm and saw a man wearing a Black Power patch flee into the property.

When they went to the door to make inquiries, officers spotted a .22 Marlin rifle on a shelf above three rifle scopes. It prompted them to do a wider search during which they discovered various calibres of ammunition in Perrett’s bedroom — one .308 round, three .243, and four .222.

She was  also found to have a small bag of methamphetamine in her pocket.

Perrett said the firearm was “for protection”, the ammunition “maybe belonged to her son” and that the meth was not hers but that she had picked it up in the kitchen.

Counsel Elliot Lynch said the offending was out of character as evidenced by Perrett’s lack of any previous similar criminal history. The only convictions she had were “minimal, unrelated, and mostly historical”.

Having initially been charged with being in “unlawful” possession of all the items, Perrett pleaded guilty at sentencing in Gisborne District Court yesterday when the firearm and ammunition charges were downgraded to “unlicensed” possession.  She also pleaded guilty to two breaches of bail for previously failing to appear in court.

With few sentencing slots available in the court’s timetable until January next year, Judge Turitea Bolstad agreed to deal with Perrett at the end of yesterday’s case review hearing list and ordered an impromptu report about her circumstances.

After the court’s lunch break, the judge was told arrangements had been made for family counselling, to hopefully include Perrett’s adult son.

Mr Lynch said Perrett was suffering from the “collateral impacts” her son was having on her life at the moment and it was exacerbated by her living situation — next to a Black Power property in Titoki Street. Perrett was “not part of that world” as the court could see from her limited previous criminal convictions and history of fulltime work at a retail store, Mr Lynch said.

The judge imposed nine months supervision to include the family counselling and any other programmes as directed by probation. It was also hoped Perrett would be given support to move away from Titoki Street.

There was an order for destruction of the firearm, ammunition, and meth.