Alleged criminal accused of threatening witnesses in court

The accused is facing two charges of perverting the course of justice. File photo

An alleged criminal is accused of threatening witnesses in a court hearing, although he says he was merely stroking his goatee and stretching his broken hand.

The man is on trial in the High Court at Wellington today facing two charges of perverting the course of justice.

Heavy suppression orders were made by Justice Nicholas Davidson, QC, including the name of the man on trial and details of the court hearing from which the allegations arose.

The man is accused of threatening two witnesses.

"[The first witness] will give evidence about gestures the defendant made at him while he was giving evidence and the jury foreperson will give evidence about hand gestures he observed while [the second witness] was giving evidence," Crown prosecutor Grant Burston said when outlining the case against the man.

When spoken to by police, the man denied making threatening gestures.

"The description of the gestures that [the man] gives in the audio interview is that he had a broken left hand and it was in a cast and he was stretching that," Mr Burston said.

"When it was put to him what had been observed by witnesses he gave an explanation that he had a goatee beard and that he was stroking his goatee beard in a particular motion starting on his moustache and ending up under his bottom lip."

The first witness said he saw the man making a "pistol-type hand gesture".

The jury foreman then saw the man making a "keep-your-mouth-shut type gesture" to a second witness.

The foreman passed a note to a fellow juror saying this, Mr Burston said.

That juror looked at the man and saw the same thing.

The Crown will call six witnesses.

In a brief opening, the man's lawyer Eric Forster said it was "pretty obvious" what the defence was: The man was rubbing his face and wasn't intending to make any gestures saying witnesses should be silent.

The judge is hearing the case without a jury.