A man allegedly murdered by a gang member and a gang prospect was stressed after being “forced to give evidence” against a Mongrel Mob captain.
Eli Johnson’s mother, Robyn Mitchell, told the jury in the High Court at Hamilton today that he testified against Mongrel Mob Aotearoa Tauranga chapter captain, Adrian Rewiri, “against his will” in a 2021 trial.
She said he was stressed after testifying and would stay up late to make sure no one was coming. His drug use also increased.
“He didn’t have lots of money to buy [drugs] ... but the stress after the court case is when it really kicked in. He would stay up all night making sure no one was coming.”
The 27-year-old died at his Whakamarama home on the night of June 12, 2022. Patched Mongrel Mob Aotearoa Tauranga member Quayde Hulbert and his prospect Billy Rielly are now defending a charge of murder.
In her opening yesterday, crown prosecutor Anna Pollett submitted Johnston was murdered after being dubbed a “nark” for testifying against Rewiri in relation to methamphetamine that had been found by police.
Johnson had initially taken the rap but then retracted his statement and gave evidence against Rewiri.
Rewiri and his Sergeant at Arms, Maru Wright, then assaulted Johnson. Wright later admitted a charge of assault.
Later on Hulbert, known as “Slicer Dogg”, and Rielly are alleged to have driven to Johnson’s Whakamara property from Tauranga, stopping at the Caltex Welcome Bay twice, then Bethlehem before parking 850 metres away from Johnson’s Old Highway Rd family property on Plummers Point Rd and walking up Barrett Rd.
The pair are then alleged to have stabbed Johnson 13 times around his body, including his head, stomach and arm.
Both accused deny the murder charge and each claimed, through their counsel Bill and Rita Nabney for Rielly, and Tony Rickard-Simms for Hulbert, that the Crown has the wrong men.
Mitchell took the stand today on the second day of the trial and recalled how she had been working at a Te Puna fish and chip shop the night her son was stabbed.
She said another son took the phone call and they turned everything off and rushed home, spying an ambulance waiting at the Whakamarama shops on the way.
She got to Johnson’s side and asked him who did it.
“He said, ‘f****** Quayde’. And then he said ‘help me’.”
Frustrated that the ambulance still hadn’t arrived, she drove back to the shops and urged them to help her son.
“I swore at them and told them it was safe,” she told Pollett.
She then drove back home and said it felt like “45 minutes” before St John staff arrived.
By that stage, her son was burning up, and had begun to take his clothes off and was asking for water.
Asked how he seemed, Mitchell said he was “quiet, he wasn’t screaming out or anything ... he was just asking for some water”.
Hulbert and an associate had visited Johnson at their home a week before his death.
Asked by Pollett how Johnson felt about that, Mitchell replied, “he said he felt uneasy about the second person because he didn’t know him”.
The last time she saw him before the fatal attack was earlier that evening when he popped in with a friend to grab a cigarette and some food.
“We sat down and rolled a couple of cigarettes and when [food] was all ready said ‘love you and see you later’ and off he went,” she said.
In cross-examination, Hulbert’s counsel Tony Rickard-Simms put to her that her recollection of the timing of events that night was different from what she told police in her 2022 statement.
“I know what was said. Different aspects of timing I don’t remember but I know what Eli said to me,” she replied.
The trial, overseen by Justice Francis Cooke, continues.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and been a journalist for 20.
Police could be seen cordoning off a street in the area.