Court told how teen run down and then hammered

File photo / NZH

Injuries suffered by a Tokoroa teenager run down then hit over the head with a hammer were so severe it was a miracle he survived, a jury in the High Court at Rotorua has been told.

Opening the crown's case against three men charged with being parties to intentionally injuring Seth Arama Tera with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm, prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch said what had happened to the 15 year old could not be described as an accident, rather it was a "serious criminal event".

On trial are Sean Hemi Follas, 20, farm manager of Waotu, near Putaruru, Harley David Robertson, 19, farmhand, of Lake Matahina in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, and Patrick Liam Wilson, also 19, of Tumunui, south of Rotorua. Each has pleaded not guilty.

The jury heard the man who drove the vehicle that knocked Seth down, Dion Hugh Bolt, 19, of Rotorua, had been dealt with by the court.

The three accused had been in Bolt's 4WD when he hit the teenager with it as he was stuck on a picket fence, attempting to flee.

In the early hours of September 12 last year Bolt, Robertson and Wilson had driven from Rotorua to Tokoroa, meeting up with Follas. The three arrived with a baseball bat, a piece of 4x2 timber, a claw hammer and bottles of RTDs all of which were subsequently used to make threats to a group of young people

They stopped in Tokoroa's town centre because Robertson had wanted to withdraw $200 from an ATM to buy drugs. While waiting for him the others in the group saw Seth and his friends sitting on a bench.

It was their belief the group looked like "Niggers, Blues or Crips", gangs associated with the colour blue, Mr Pilditch said.

Frightened, the youths ran off with Bolt and the three accused chasing them in the 4WD. "As this was happening the boys heard gang slogans, barking, noises associated with the Mongrel Mob."

The boys had been chased across a reserve. The group separated and Seth attempted to jump over a picket fence but became caught up in it.

"Bolt drove the vehicle straight at him knocking him over, leaving a tyre print across his chest... he got out of the vehicle carrying a claw hammer which he used to strike Seth with such force his skull fractured and caved in," the prosecutor said.

Neighbours came to the boy's assistance and he was taken to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition but miraculously survived, although he was unable to remember anything about the attack.

The accused had gone to the home of someone Follas knew, boasting about what they had done, using gang-related slogans and wanting to hide the vehicle at the man's property.

"He wouldn't have a bar of it," Mr Pilditch said.

The Crown's case was that Bolt had not been a lone figure but part of the pack. The accused had supported him, giving him confidence and courage, making them parties to his offending.

The trial, which is before Justice Graham Lang, is expected to run for most of this week.

- NZPA