Armed police swarm a property in Green Bay, following an earlier homicide near the New Haven Motel, New Lynn. Video / Michael Craig
Dylan Harris had been awake for four days straight, high on methamphetamine and looking for his next score, when he ran up on drug dealer Robert Hart in a West Auckland driveway brandishing a sawn-off rifle so rickety it was held together with red electrical tape.
That was the 36-year-old murder defendant’s recollection today as he testified in the High Court at Auckland - acknowledging to jurors that he should be found guilty of manslaughter but denying Hart’s death amounted to murder.
“When I approached him he looked at me,” Harris said through slow, stilted speech as he sat in the witness box and recalled Hart taking a step back that November 2021 morning.
Harris had just pulled out of his front hoodie pocket the firearm, which he recalled as having a rusted barrel and no trigger guard.
“I pointed it at him. I asked him, demanded of him, to ‘hand over the shit’ - my words [for] the drugs. He denies any knowledge of any drugs.”
“He’s just denying it. I thrust the weapon forward in what I perceived to be a threatening manner, and he stepped back.”
When Hart denied any knowledge again, Harris said he hit Hart in the helmet with the gun and in the “blink of an eye” the gun discharged, causing Hart to fall onto his motorbike and knock it over - his helmet falling off to reveal a bullet wound to his temple.
“I’ve thought about it over and over, and it all happened so quick,” Harris said. “I’ve convinced myself it was the shock of the weapon hitting him.”
The only other way it could have happened, he said, was if he accidentally pulled the trigger. Either way, he insisted, he never intended to fire the gun or kill anyone that day.
Harris’ lawyer, Ron Mansfield KC, asked him what was going through his head as Hart collapsed.
“I knew what had happened,” Harris said, looking away as he started to wipe away tears. “I f***ing wish I never got involved with any of this shit.”
He immediately forgot about the 14 grams of methamphetamine he was intending to steal and ran, he told jurors.
“I believed I’d just...” he said, trailing off and remaining silent as he recollected his thoughts and started over. “I knew in my heart that he was gone, you know? And that I was f***ed, and I just wanted to get away.
“It was never my intention to get in any kind of trouble. It was only to be used in a threatening manner.”
New Lynn homicide victim Robert James Hart, 40, was father to two sons. Photo / Supplied
But Harris’ version of events doesn’t match what prosecutors have alleged happened, or what is alleged by the lawyers for his two murder co-defendants: Adam North and Jasmine Murray.
North and Murray, a couple who were waiting nearby in a stolen Suzuki Swift when the shooting occurred, are accused of having lured Hart to the ambush by impersonating a woman on Facebook who wanted to buy $3000 worth of methamphetamine. Lawyers for both co-defendants have said their clients had no idea what Harris was about to do.
Prosecutors Robin McCoubrey and Sarah Murphy, who finished presenting evidence on Friday, have said all three were conspirators in what they intended all along to be a “deliberate and carefully planned”, “execution”-like robbery-murder.
During cross-examination today, McCoubrey suggested the gun - which police never recovered - wasn’t in as bad of shape as the defendant had described it. But if the gun did look that shoddy, it makes no sense that Harris allowed it to be loaded and cocked but didn’t foresee the possibility that his actions could result in a death, McCoubrey also suggested.
He ended his cross-examination of the defendant by referring back to an earlier witness who said she looked out the window of a neighbouring motel immediately after hearing a gunshot and saw a man gripping a gun with both hands, pointing it at the victim’s head.
“Even after he fell you had the gun and were pointing it at him...” McCoubrey said. “That’s the point: This wasn’t an accidental discharge.”
Harris’ lawyer began the day with an opening address and a quote he attributed to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling: “Killing is not as easy as the innocent believe.”
“Killing Mr Hart would be pointless and entirely contrary to Mr Harris’ interests,” Mansfield said, explaining that his client could have simply robbed the stranger without fear of consequences because it was unlikely Hart would have gone to police.
Killing someone, on the other hand, was bound to attract loads of police attention in a small country like New Zealand, he added.
“Nobody would set out to kill for $3000 - no matter how desperate ... they were for methamphetamine,” he said.
Dylan Harris, Adam North and Jasmine Murray appear in the High Court at Auckland. Photos / Alex Burton
And if the trio were planning an execution, “would they do it in such a dumb-ass way?” he asked the jury, pointing out that the shooting was near a busy roadway and Harris didn’t wear much of a disguise - just a face mask, which would have been common at the time as Auckland was in the middle of a Covid-19 lockdown.
“Things did go wrong, and it went wrong in a very short space of time.”
“I don’t expect any of you to think highly of him,” Mansfield told jurors of his client, adding that his client knows he’ll be convicted of something. “He’s not seeking to lie and he’s not seeking to avoid responsibility. He’s not seeking to pull the wool over your eyes.
Minutes before Mansfield’s statement this morning, jurors had sent out a note on their own volition asking if a charge of manslaughter would also be considered. Justice Paul Davison, who is overseeing the trial, informed them that the matter would be addressed shortly.
Harris’ testimony was the only evidence presented by the three defence teams. North and Murray were given an opportunity to testify or call witnesses immediately after Harris, but they declined to do so.
Closing arguments in the trial are expected to begin tomorrow.
