A man who died during an arrest at Napier's Westshore Beach last year had told his daughter that if he ever became terminally ill he would kill his parents and park near the water to die, a jury has been told in Napier District Court.
Bianca McPeake, of New Plymouth, was giving evidence today on the second day of the trial of four Napier police officers who have each pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault with a weapon relating to incidents after police found father Gregory McPeake's vehicle in a carpark at the beach just before 12.50am on March 13, 2015.
The 53-year-old and 179kg man died soon after falling out of his vehicle after being tasered, pepper-sprayed and bitten by police dogs.
The jury of six men and six women has been reminded repeatedly there was no causal link between anything any of the officers had done and the death.
Ms McPeake told the court she was in New Plymouth during the night before the death and was unaware her father was in Hawke's Bay until police contacted her and told her he was wanted after an incident at his parents' home in Prospect Rd, Hastings.