Connor Morris was killed in August 3 last year. Photo / Facebook
Connor Morris was killed in August 3 last year. Photo / Facebook
A paramedic who tended to Connor Morris after he was fatally struck in an Auckland street fight said the patient's heart had stopped and there was little chance he would survive.
Giving evidence to the High Court at Auckland today, the paramedic told of Mr Morris' final moments - including what was said by his father on the way to hospital.
Michael Thrift Murray, 33, is on trial accused of murdering Mr Morris, 26, by striking him in the head with a sickle-like garden tool during a violent street brawl on Don Buck Rd in west Auckland last August.
The paramedic told the jury that when he got to Don Buck Rd there were many people on the street and he and his colleagues were abused as they tried to help Mr Morris.
"It was dark so I couldn't actually do a full assessment on the spot so my choice was to load and go," he told the court.
"We put monitoring leads on the patient... his heart wasn't beating. We were then a cardiac arrest situation," the paramedic told the jury.
"Generally the outcome (in that situation) is not very good. That assessment was that his heart had stopped."
The paramedic said Chris Morris was focused on talking to his son the whole way to the hospital.
At one point, Chris Morris had to tell Ms Elder-Holmes to "sit down and keep quiet" in her seat.
He said he then worked out who he had in the ambulance. He had read about Mr Morris and Ms Elder Holmes' relationship in the media.
Mr Morris was pronounced dead about 10 minutes after reaching hospital.
Sergeant Shaun Palmer arrived at the scene before the ambulance and said the crowd gathered on the road were "hostile".
"I saw a person lying on the footpath. My first priority was the person lying on the ground... I recognised the female lying on top of him as Millie Elder (sic)," Mr Palmer said.
"(another) lady said to me 'I can't find a pulse'. I checked.... I couldn't feel a pulse. The people that were standing there were screaming 'where's the ambulance'. I tried to provide reassurance that an ambulance was on the way."
Mr Palmer recalled seeing a number of Head Hunters jackets and t-shirts in the crowd. As they waited for the ambulance, one of the Head Hunters walked over to a fence, ripped it off its hinges and smashed it through the windscreen of a car.
He said the Head Hunters were uncooperative and belligerent at the scene.
"I heard the cries of Millie's voice"
Earlier, friends of Mr Morris who were fighting with him rejected claims their group had weapons, including sticks and baseball bats.
John Akavai and Josh Feagai also rejected the suggestion they were not telling the truth about what happened before Mr Morris was fatally struck.
Mr Morris and his friends had been at his sister Cymmion's housewarming party at number 425.
Mr Akavai and Mr Feagai were with another friend, Obe Porter, when he was kicked in the face by a man from another group after he left the party to walk to a petrol station for juice and cigarettes.
Mr Feagai told the court he ran back to the housewarming for help and Mr Akavai stayed with Mr Porter.
Mr Akavai said "everything just stopped" when his mates realised Mr Morris was injured.
"Millie was screaming 'Connor, help call an ambulance'. Millie was on top of him holding his head. Jared his cousin was by his side holding his hand."
Mr Feagai said the moment was shocking.
Michael Murray appears in the Auckland High Court accused of murdering Connor Morris. Photo / Jason Oxenham, NZ Herald
"We didn't know whether he was still alive or whether he was knocked out ... "
"It's all a big blur to me ... all I remember was being on the right side of the road, having a scuffle and hearing Millie scream."
Mr Porter said he, Mr Akavai and Mr Feagai left the party to go to the petrol station and saw a group of men outside 401 Don Buck Rd. When they left about 10 people were drinking and chatting.
One yelled out "what's up"and Mr Porter replied with a similar greeting. He went to shake hands "and then I either got kicked or punched in the face," he said.
Mr Porter reeled backwards and one of his mates yelled to the other "go back and get help".
Seconds later he saw Mr Morris come running at "full steam". Others followed and the fighting started.
Ms Elder-Holmes ran out and tried to stop Mr Morris fighting. Mr Porter pulled her aside, worried she would get hurt. He had to leave her standing on the footpath because he saw two men beating his mate across the road.
"He was fighting one dude on the ground and the other guy started backing up. I turned around and saw Connor being hit. I ran back.
"I didn't know he had been hit with anything at that stage. I saw someone on the grass verge, swinging something, but I couldn't be clear what it was.
"I thought he was just knocked out. I rolled him over to the recovery position and when I went to put my arm under his head I felt the back of his head and I thought, oh nah."
Ms Elder-Holmes ran to Mr Morris and started screaming.
Mr Porter said he stayed with Mr Morris, holding his legs while his girlfriend held his head.
Mr Morris' father Chris Morris soon arrived and emergency services turned up about 15 minutes later.
During cross-examination, Murray's lawyer Marie Dyhrberg suggested to Mr Porter, Mr Akavai and Mr Feagai that their recollections were wrong.
There were weapons at 425 Don Buck Rd including poles, bats and knuckle dusters, Ms Dyhrberg said. There were far more people at the party than was being admitted and when they got to the road they split into two groups, targeting one man from the other party each.
All three men rejected that scenario, adamant the only person with a weapon was the accused.
Ms Dyhrberg told Mr Feagai she did not believe he was telling the truth about what he saw the night Mr Morris died.
"You saw a great deal more than you're letting on," she accused.
Mr Feagai shot back: "I'm telling nothing but the truth."
Dyhrberg put to Mr Porter that his group had baseball bats and sticks, "significantly outnumbered" the other men and were "delivering terrible beatings".
"When you're in a fight you fight back. We were outnumbered by them, not the other way around."
"Everyone seemed to be all over the place"
The court also heard from a security guard who was patrolling the area that night.
Matthew Brown pulled into Don Buck Rd just after midnight and saw "a whole heap of people run out of a driveway and start attacking a couple of guys on the road".
He drove through the fracas, stopped at the car park of a row of shops and rang 111.
He said the people on the road were split into two groups and two men wearing white t-shirts were on the ground being beaten.
A group wearing black appeared to be armed with sticks and baseball bats. More people were joining the fight as it went on.
He stayed on the phone to emergency services, giving as much information as he could.
"I saw a person taking a hell of a beating, I was quite concerned for him," Mr Brown told the court.
"From start to finish the whole fight was about eight minutes. It was a mess, there were people running all over the place. People running in hitting, kicking and then running away again."
Teen feared for his life
Meanwhile, the defendant's flatmate told the court he feared for his life as the fight raged.
Zane Williams lived with Murray, his brother Stan Murray and others at 401 Don Buck Rd.
Their house was at the top of the driveway leading to number 403c, where Iesha Teiho was holding a 21st party for her brother, Jason 'Karl' Teiho, on the night of the alleged murder.
Mr Williams did not attend the 21st - he was at home with his girlfriend and some close friends watching movies.
At about 12.30am Mr Williams' partner became annoyed at people standing outside the house making noise.
"She wanted me to go out and ask them to leave," he said.
He gathered a group and they went up the drive. He returned to his bedroom and carried on watching movies.
The next thing he heard was "an almighty scream", he told the court.
"I jumped out of my bed ... I run out straight through the front door and to the roadside. I saw one male lying face down on the ground, I saw a female on top of him, shouting and screaming."
He said others were standing around the injured man, and they turned and saw him and started walking towards him. He ran back into the house and locked the door, gathering all the occupants in one room for safety.
"(We were ) scared for our lives really," he told the court.
Jason "Karl"Teiho told the court he was part of the group that went to the top of the driveway. He was drunk on bourbon pre-mixed drinks by the time he got there.
The group included his younger brother, Trevor Morunga. As the group from number 425 passed, Mr Morunga "kicked one of them in the face".
"One of them said they were going back to grab some people ... then they came back," he told the court.
"It's all blurry to me now, I can't remember as I was intoxicated. I just remember being amongst the fight."
Mr Teiho said there were no weapons used and everyone was fighting with their hands.
He said he "instigated" Mr Morunga kicking one of the men. Pushed by prosecutor Sam McMullan, he said: "I just told him, 'look watch this I'll kick them' and then he ended up doing it first," he said.
"I was intoxicated at the time. I was already playing up down at my sister's house. There was bad vibes going on that night ... from myself and my brother."
The trial continues.
WHO'S WHO?
THE 21ST PARTY AT 403C DON BUCK RD - Held by Iesha Teiho for her brother's 21st birthday at her home - Attended by her other brother Trevor Morunga, cousin Shamus Wira and his cousin Stan Murray, who is the brother of the accused. - Mr Morunga allegedly sparked the fatal street fight when he "kicked out" at a man who was attending a housewarming down the road.
401 DON BUCK RD - The accused Micheal Thrift Murray lived in a sleepout at the back of this house. The driveway to Iesha Teiho's home, number 403C, runs alongside the house. His children and partner also spend time at the property and were there on the night Mr Morris was killed. - The court was told Murray did not attend the party but came out when it broke up to see his brother Stan, who also lives at the house.- Zane Williams, a flatmate of the Murray brothers. Lived a the house with his partner, ran outside to the fight after he heard a scream and then saw the fight and barricaded himself inside with his family.
THE HOUSEWARMING PARTY AT 425 DON BUCK RD - Held by Cymmion Morris, sister of the victim. - Attended by Connor Morris and his girlfriend Millie Elder-Holmes and parents Chris and Julie Morris. - Chris and Connor Morris were patched members of the Head Hunters gang, and other members were also at the party. - Obe Porter, friend of Connor Morris - John Akavai, workmate of Connor Morris - Josh Feagai, friend of Connor Morris - John Faapoi, his partner is a good friend of Cymmion Morris and he knew Connor through her.
THE SECURITY GUARD - Matthew Brown was on a routine patrol in Massey when the fight started. - He called 111 from a nearby carpark after driving through the initial fracas.
