Why some experts believe new gang laws could backfire, Wellington tackles a railway renewals backlog and Paula Bennett considers Auckland mayoralty in the latest NZ Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
In her closing statement to the jury in the High Court at Hamilton this morning, Crown solicitor Anna Pollett said there was “no doubt that giving evidence against a gang member, let alone a captain of the Mongrel Mob, could lead to threats of death, physical beatings or persons murdered for doing that”.
Eli Johnson, 27, had retracted an earlier statement he’d given to police about taking the rap for the meth and instead testified against Mongrel Mob Aotearoa Tauranga chapter captain Adrian Rewiri in his 2021 trial.
Patched Mongrel Mob Aotearoa member Quayde Richard Dean Hulbert, 30, and his then-prospect Billy Tama Rielly, 22, are alleged to have stabbed Johnson to death for being a “nark”.
But their defence counsel, Tony Rickard-Simms and Bill and Rita Nabney, say police have the wrong men and there is no direct evidence pointing to either of them being at the scene of the killing.
Pollet said Johnson feared the consequences of testifying against Rewiri.
“He feared what might happen to him and, as it transpired, that fear was realised.
“On the 12th of June, he paid the ultimate price for what we may all think was the right thing to do, to tell the truth.
“And who got to carry out these dirty deeds? A patched member and a prospect who wanted his patch.”
Pollett said there was no doubt Johnson was murdered, that those who went to Whakamarama that night intended to kill “and did so in a callous and unrelenting way”.
Johnson was left with 13 stab wounds, four of which were described by a forensic pathologist as serious enough to be fatal.
Pollett said it could be inferred Hulbert and Rielly knew where they were going, knew why they were going, “knew what they had to do and they did it”.
She said there was evidence of Rielly entering a Caltex at 7.15pm the night Johnson was killed, wearing the same clothing, Nike shoes and red cap, that she alleged he would later be seen in on CCTV at the Whakamarama shops.
Mongrel Mob Aotearoa member Quadye Hulbert - who has since shaved his hair off (left) and prospect Billy Rielly in the dock of the High Court at Hamilton at the start of the trial on February 13. Photo / Belinda Feek
As for Hulbert, he was heard on a phone call to the prison the day after the killing, telling an inmate he’d just done a “favour for the brother” - the brother being Rewiri.
Hulbert rang another prisoner 13 days later saying he’s “just been doing dirty deeds”. He also said he was being investigated for a murder at “ole Whakamarama, Tauranga ... 13 days ago”.
Six months later, he’s heard on the phone telling someone to contact his lawyer, Rickard-Simms, and tell him that he was seen at home in his room playing God of War the night of the alleged murder.
The only issue for the jury was identity, Pollett said.
She said defence counsel would tell them it was simply an “unfortunate series of coincidences” for the pair, with others just happening to wear the same clothes as them that night.
However, she said they would come to the “inescapable conclusion” that Hulbert and Rielly were responsible and asked the jury not to be distracted by other “irrelevant matters” or speculation.
‘He wasn’t there’
Rickard-Simms told the jury there was “no blood, no DNA, no knife, even as far as the car sitting on the driveway, there’s nothing in that to connect it to Eli Johnson”.
Hulbert wasn’t at Johnson’s property the night he died and there was no evidence to prove he was, he said.
“The defence is that he was not there.
“The Crown has not reached the standard of proof [required]. He has pleaded not guilty and maintained that throughout.”
Rickard-Simms urged the jury to examine the evidence “like a scientist” as it was for the Crown to prove he was guilty of murder beyond reasonable doubt.
“The evidence here does not support anything other than Eli Johnson was stabbed and sadly died.
“It does not support the charging document that Quayde Hulbert is responsible.”
‘How many people wear Nike shoes?’
Bill and Rita Nabney, on behalf of Rielly, said a Hallensteins representative confirmed they had imported 1700 green Park hoodies, and just because his client was pictured wearing one at 7.15pm that night, it didn’t mean it was him in the car 20 minutes later.
As for the Nike shoes, Bill Nabney said, “ask yourself, man”.
“How many people wear Nike shoes?”
As for knives, a pathologist gave evidence that “at least one knife” was used.
“It doesn’t mean there was more than one. You can readily conclude there was only one knife used.”
As for retribution, Johnson was heard saying “They got me”, after being stabbed, not “the Mongrel Mob” got me.
“There’s simply no evidence that there was more than one attacker.”
Just because he now had a facial tattoo didn’t mean he now had a patch, and if he was a prospect, they would normally take the blame for a crime if a patched member was involved.
“He wasn’t.”
Rielly was heard on the phone talking with his mother about six weeks after Johnson’s death, and he also maintained his innocence, saying: “I wasn’t there, Mum”.
