Accused tried to stop fight - neighbour

File photo / Bay of Plenty Times

A witness has told of seeing murder accused Levi Michael Coombs trying to stop his alleged victim during a fracas in a Burnside street, telling him that there were children inside the house.

Coombs - one of three men accused of the murder of 24-year-old Timothy John Constable - is alleged to have struck him on the head with a Maori club, a patu, fracturing Mr Constable's skull during the incident in August last year.

The Crown is calling evidence from 15 neighbours in the High Court at Christchurch to give evidence of the fight in the street outside the Todd Avenue house where Mr Constable was allegedly stabbed near the heart and ended up dying in the gutter.

John McGinlay said there were about four males pushing and shoving, swearing and yelling between the fence and the vehicle, in the street.

He agreed with counsel for Levi Coombs, Tony Greig, that Coombs was trying to stop Mr Constable, telling him there were children in the house.

Later in the fighting he heard glass smash on the vehicle, saw a man lying in the gutter, and a female saying that she loved him.

The fighting then stopped, and he could hear someone counting loudly.

One of the neighbours in Todd Avenue, Alexander Silverado, said there was a party with loud music, and then he heard a woman's screams.

He ran to the road and saw people fighting. He grabbed a man and held his arms behind his back, but got punched in his right cheek. He let go of the person, stumbled back to his own driveway, and waited there to keep an eye on proceedings.

He saw a struggle on the ground, and thought he heard sounds like gun shots, but a youth was smashing car windows with an object, and there were bashing and smashing sounds.

He heard a woman crying, "He's dead, he's dead", and a male was lying in the gutter between the car and the kerb.

He helped another man do CPR on Mr Constable until the ambulance staff took over.

Adam Robert Gempton, 21, Steven Wayne Bright, 26, and Levi Coombs, 18, are charged with murder, while Shaharna Margaret Hickey, 23, and Shahana Mikena Coombs, 21, are charged with assault. They deny all charges.

The Crown is calling evidence from 57 witnesses in the four-week trial before Justice Lester Chisholm and a jury.

- NZPA