Armed police swarm a property in Green Bay, following an earlier homicide near the New Haven Motel, New Lynn. Video / Michael Craig
Robert James Hart’s death in a West Auckland residential driveway was the result of a bullet being fired from such a close range that it was able to penetrate his motorcycle helmet before striking him in the temple, jurors were told today as the joint murder trial began for three people accused of carefully orchestrating the fatal ambush.
“Essentially, this was an execution,” Crown prosecutor Sarah Murphy said, describing the 40-year-old’s killing as a “deliberate and planned operation”.
Authorities allege Dylan James Mitchell Harris snuck up behind and opened fire on Hart as co-defendants Adam Malakai North and Jasmine Murray - a couple accused of using another person’s Facebook account to lure Hart with a fake drug deal - waited nearby in the getaway car.
All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the allegations this morning as they stood in the dock in the High Court at Auckland.
Auckland was still in Covid-19 lockdown in November 2021 when Hart received a Facebook Messenger text from a woman who he seemed to be on friendly terms with. She was asking if he had anything to sell, which seemed to be - without explicitly saying it - a request to buy methamphetamine, Murphy said during her opening address.
The two arranged to meet in the West Auckland suburb of Kelston.
Dylan Harris appears in the High Court at Auckland at the start of his murder trial for the November 2021 shooting death of Robert Hart in West Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton
But what Hart didn’t realise at the time was that the woman he thought he was messaging had earlier reluctantly given her phone - and access to the apps on it - to North and Murray, prosecutors said. Hart’s acquaintance was being impersonated by the three defendants, Murphy suggested.
“These three people were not friendly to Mr Hart,” she said. “They had no interest in purchasing anything from him.”
At 9.35am that morning, the couple picked up Harris in the stolen Suzuki Swift they had been driving for days, authorities allege. Another message was sent to Hart: “I’m here, hun.” A 36-second call followed in which prosecutors allege Murray, as the only woman in the car, impersonated Hart’s acquaintance.
As he tried to find the acquaintance, Hart rode his motorcycle down a residential driveway next to the New Haven Motel in the nearby suburb of New Lynn and waited.
Adam North appears in the High Court at Auckland at the start of his murder trial for the November 2021 shooting death of Robert Hart in West Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton
Meanwhile, prosecutors said, North and Murray were dropping off Harris so he could track down the other man. As Harris got out of the car, he could be seen moving a gun to the front pocket of his green hoodie, Murphy told jurors.
It’s likely that Hart, resting on his motorbike and still wearing his helmet as he waited for the drug transaction to take place, never saw what was coming next, Murphy said. It’s believed he was shot from about 30cm away, dying immediately.
North and Murray would be arrested five days later, with Murray agreeing to talk to police - an interview that is expected to be played for jurors later in the trial. Harris, meanwhile, managed to flee to Rotorua despite the difficulty of getting past the Auckland border lockdown checkpoints, Murphy told jurors.
Jasmine Murray appears in the High Court at Auckland at the start of her murder trial for the November 2021 shooting death of Robert Hart in West Auckland. A judge has ordered her image to be pixelated for the duration of the trial. Photo / Alex Burton
Defence lawyers for the three defendants will have an opportunity to address jurors with their own statements when the trial, before Justice Paul Davison, resumes on Monday.
Although the defence was not outlined today, prosecutors told jurors what they expect it will be: That Harris didn’t mean to kill Hart, perhaps firing by accident, and that North and Murray did not know of any plan to use violence.
After predicting the defence, Murphy rubbished it.
“The Crown says the shooting was deliberate and carefully planned,” she said. “They knew exactly what they were doing.”
