Christchurch teenager murder trial: Father’s final words to son before he was shot dead

The pair in the High Court dock, (from left) Joshua David Craig Smith and Daniel Nelson Sparks, are charged with murdering Connor Whitehead. Photos / George Heard / Supplied

A father has told a jury of his final words with his son before the teen left to attend a 15-year-old’s birthday party and fireworks and died there.

Connor Whitehead, 16, was shot dead at the party in the northern Christchurch suburb of Casebrook on November 5, 2021.

Two men, Daniel Nelson Sparks and Joshua David Craig Smith, are charged with murdering Whitehead.

On Monday, a three-week jury trial began in the High Court at Christchurch before Justice Melanie Harland. The pair pleaded not guilty to the charges before the trial began.

Daniel Nelson Sparks (left) and Joshua David Craig Smith have pleaded not guilty to murdering Connor Whitehead. Photo / George Heard

Connor’s father, James Whitehead, was the first of the Crown’s witnesses.

Whitehead said his son, who lived with him full-time, would stay with his mother most weekends. Whitehead said he and Connor’s mother had an amicable relationship. As Connor grew older and Whitehead had to work more he didn’t see Connor as much in the evenings.

“He was independent and looked after himself, he was a good teenager to live with,” Whitehead said.

“Connor had his freedom as long as I knew where he was and when he would be back.”

The pair, who had a “close relationship”, would communicate via text, Snapchat and Facebook.

Connor, who had a good group of mates, had started going to parties in the past year or two. He would always tell his father where he was going and asked if it would be okay.

On November 5, Whitehead saw his son as he headed off to school. While he was at work Connor messaged him, asking if he could stay at a friend’s and go to a party.

Whitehead replied it was fine, and asked his son to be safe.

When Whitehead arrived home from work about 6pm, his son was in his room getting ready with three of his friends.

About 6.30pm Connor came into the lounge and asked if he could change his plans and stay at their home instead. Whitehead replied it was fine.

Before Connor left, Whitehead told his son, “I love you”.

“He said, ‘I love you too’.

“That was the last time I saw Connor and last word I spoke to him,”

It was about 12.30am when two police officers arrived at his house asking “strange questions”, trying to confirm if he was Connor Whitehead’s father and asked if they could come in.

The officers told him a teenager had been shot and killed and they believed it was his son.

He told them it “wasn’t funny”, and his fingers went numb, everything was a blur from there on.

James Whitehead went to his ex-partner’s home and broke the news.

The jury then heard from Korin Steedman, the mother of the 15-year-old who was having the party.

Steedman said she was expecting only 10-20 people would arrive at the party.

Her daughter’s friends began arriving about 8pm, with partygoers initially hanging out in her children’s bedrooms as well as the deck.

The partygoers were socialising and drinking, and were not causing any concerns at this point, she said.

From there “everybody started coming, then it started to get out of control” as uninvited people started turning up about 10pm.

It was so full Steedman could not walk through her house properly. She estimated between 60-80 people were at the party.

Steedman said she tried to get the uninvited partygoers to leave and look for the person who was threatening her son.

She said her son had gone to a boy who had stolen a drink from her sister. The boy asked her son if they had a problem, if they did he would stab her son, she said.

Her son then called the defendant Sparks.

After Sparks arrived she heard kids screaming, “He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun”.

When she went outside there were people everywhere.

She then heard two gunshots and hid behind a tree.

“Everyone hid,” she said.

“People were hiding everywhere they could hide.”

After the shots were fired the car took off down the cul de sac.

Crown prosecutor Aaron Harvey began the trial before six men and six women by opening the Crown’s case against the pair.

He said there were parental concerns about the party being too big and with those fears being realised.

“The worst-case scenario occurred, too many young people attended, younger ones drank too much, older men made their way and caused problems, fights were started.”

Things got so bad Sparks’ son called him asking for help.

The Crown alleges both men received that call by arming themselves with loaded firearms - a Stevens shotgun and a Mossberg shotgun in Smith’s VW Golf.

Connor Whitehead, 16, was attending a 15-year-old's birthday party when he died.

At the address were Sparks’ two children, one of whom was having their 15th birthday party. Smith is a friend and associate of Sparks, and was not related at all to the occupants.

The girl turned 15 on October 27 and asked her mother if she could have a party, saying up to 100 people might come. Her mother said no, fearing it was too many people to have.

After thinking about it she relented, but said there were several conditions, including the party could only be her friends and that it could not be posted about on social media.

The party took place, but as commonly happened friends invited other friends and things ended up getting out of control.

Most of those attending were around 15 or 16, such as Whitehead, who was invited to the party. However, some slightly older people arrived too. The exact number of guests is not known, but appeared to be “certainly well over 50, perhaps more than 100”, Harvey said.

Connor Whitehead's father, James Whitehead, arrives at court ahead of the three-week murder trial. Photo / George Heard

There was some evidence of young men arriving who were described as wearing blue who may perhaps have had some association with the Crips gang.

There was evidence that some of this group had been going around the party causing trouble, hitting or assaulting some partygoers who had to go inside the house to tend to minor injuries.

At some stage during the evening both of Sparks’ children were targeted. Sparks’ son then called his father from a bedroom on his mum’s phone and asked him to come and assist about 10.49pm.

He stayed on the phone until the two men arrived.

Sparks’ son told his father there were people in a gang at the address and they were “scaring him”, Harvey said.

“He thought they were planning to hurt him and asked him to come and scare them.”

Sparks allegedly asked his son whether the group had any weapons. The son replied they were just kids and did not have any weapons.

Harvey said Sparks’ son hoped by calling his father he would be able to arrive and the crowd would disperse.

Joshua David Craig Smith is charged with murdering Connor Whitehead. Photo / George Heard

About 11pm the two accused men arrived at the party. Sparks’ son pointed out the group of people acting aggressively towards him. Sparks approached them and there was a verbal argument. Gang signs were pulled and there was yelling.

The argument became heated and partygoers crowded the area.

At this stage, Whitehead was standing in the driveway alongside friends and partygoers.

The Crown case is that two shots were fired, one by each of the firearms, one by each of the defendants.

The two shots were about six seconds apart. The Crown says the most likely scenario is that Smith fired the fatal shot that struck Whitehead, and that Sparks fired a shot from the Mossberg into the air, likely from the car.

Whitehead was shot in the chest and killed, his injuries not survivable.

There was no suggestion Whitehead was at all involved in the disorder, and was standing between 9 to 12 metres away when the firearm was discharged at him.

The exact sequence of events would be an important issue for the trial, Harvey said, with witnesses to give accounts that will not always match.

At some point in the confrontation a bottle, or bottles were thrown, one smashing the driver’s door of the VW.

After the second shot was fired the two men left the scene.

Following the fatal shooting police used emergency powers to intercept calls. A few hours after the shooting a call was intercepted between Sparks, Smith and an associate.

Smith said he had a run-in with the Crips, with 30 or 40 of them coming out of nowhere and surrounding them. Shots were fired, and someone may have been hit.

On November 6, Smith called police to report his car stolen, and said it had been taken from the driveway.

On November 7, police went to an address where they noticed smoke coming from the chimney. They cordoned off the address and appealed for Smith to co-operate. He was found hiding in the bonnet of a car parked in a garage. A search of the fireplace located items of interest including clothing, fabric and other material.

Sparks was found two days later.

He told police, “I know I’m in trouble, I’m happy to talk to you”.

Harvey said that during the trial the jury would hear the audio interview with Smith and a video interview with Sparks.

In his interview, Smith said he did not fire any shots. Sparks said he got out of the car and while out of the car heard a shot being fired. After he heard the shot being fired he got his firearm and fired a shot in the air before they left.

The firearms were found in the Bottle Lake Forest.

Harvey said both men could be found guilty of murder, regardless of who fired the fatal shot.

Smith’s lawyer, Daniel Kirby, said Whitehead was “totally innocent”.

“His killing was shocking, senseless, and should never have happened.”

Kirby said Smith accepted it was his fault, and that he was responsible for Whitehead’s death.

However, he said his client was guilty of manslaughter, not murder.

“Mr Smith never intended to kill Connor. He never intended to cause Connor bodily harm, and he never thought that Connor or anyone else would be likely to die.”

He said Smith did lie in his police interview from his hospital bed, but that just because he lied did not mean he was a murderer.

Sparks’ lawyer, Nicola Pointer, said he was not guilty of murder. He did not fire the fatal shot, and he had no idea things would unfold the way they did, she said.

“What occurred went well beyond any common purpose that could’ve existed between the men when they travelled to the party.”

Sparks said he got a distressed call from his son asking for help.

He heard a gunshot, quickly returned to the car and grabbed the Mossberg, discharging a round into the air to scatter the crowd forming so they could leave.

Justice Melanie Harland. Photo / George Heard