Sao Yean murder trial: ‘I’m not a violent man’, accused tells court

Aspiring musician, and murder accused, Neha Grey wearing the yellow bandana the Crown alleges he was wearing when he seriously assaulted a Hamilton man. Photo / Instagram

A defendant alleged to have murdered a man as retribution for a gang member’s death has told a jury he’s not a violent man, and says he only wears a mask in his gangster rap videos.

Neha Wiremu Grey continued giving evidence in the High Court at Hamilton today and denied fatally beating, then wrapping the body of Sao Yean, also known as Sao Young, in blankets and a tarpaulin before dumping him in a rural water trough.

Grey, 40, is one of four accused of Yean’s murder, along with Daniel James Payne, Mihingarangi Tynneal Rameka and Anton Rite on March 13, 2020.

Grey, Payne and Rameka also face additional kidnapping and wounding charges for two other complainants.

Rite’s lawyer Adam Holland continued to grill Grey in the dock and recalled evidence from a previous witness who said it was he, Rameka and Payne who were always talking about seeking retribution for the death of Christopher Matatahi, who died of a drug overdose on New Year’s Eve.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” he said.

“You and Mr Payne were very interested in locating the person responsible for CZN’s [Matatahi] death,” Holland put to him.

“No,” Grey replied.

He questioned him about why he was so quick to get up at 3am when asked to by Payne, and then head back over to Rameka’s house where Yean would await them.

“You didn’t ask any questions of Mr Payne,” Holland asked.

“No ... he just told me he got a buzz from Tynneal [Rameka]. I just wanted to go with him too. We were going to have a sesh.”

He said they were going there as there could have been “gangsters” scoping out Rameka’s house so they were just “going over to check up”.

Rameka was dealing drugs at the time.

He denied taking any weapons with him, “because we don’t carry weapons around”.

Holland put to him he had no problem going to a potentially violent situation unarmed and quite liked getting into conflict with people.

“No. I’m not a violent man.”

Holland then mentioned a text he sent Rameka on March 12 in response to vehicles seen outside her house.

“I will f*** those c**** right up,” Grey texted Rameka.

“Does that fit in with your evidence that you are not a violent person?” Holland asked him.

“That’s just a figure of speech ... I just wanted some free drugs.”

“It’s to do with you going around and belting people, isn’t it,” Holland put to him.

Pictured on trial in the High Court at Hamilton are Mihingarangi Tynneal Rameka (left), Anton Rite, Daniel Payne and Neha Grey, accused of murdering Sao Yean, aka Sao Young. Photo / Belinda Feek

“No,” Grey replied.

Asked why he wouldn’t admit to knowing Payne’s nickname, “Damage”, Holland put to him that it was because he was known as an “enforcer”.

“That’s his rap name,” Grey replied. “He’s a musician.”

Grey later told Crown prosecutor Sunny Teki-Clark that he was a musician himself: he played the guitar, drums and also sang, and was known as “finese”.

“I’m a people’s person ... I’m a positive-natured man. I’m a musician.”

A photo of him wearing the yellow mask was then shown to the jury.

Holland put to Grey that he was wearing the yellow mask when he assaulted Jesse Whitiora on March 12 with Payne, and it was the two of them who beat Yean to death in Rameka’s shed during the early hours of March 13.

“When you arrived, Mr Yean was alive and well in the garage, wasn’t he?” Holland asked.

“I didn’t see him,” Grey said.

“At some point after, you and Mr Payne were in the garage with Mr Yean and he was viciously assaulted wasn’t he?”

“No,” Grey replied.

Holland put to him that it didn’t matter what claims of innocence Yean made, they were “going to deal to him”.

“I know nothing of that,” Grey said, also denying it was their raised voices heard coming from the garage.

He also denied wearing the mask and carrying a shotgun and taser.

“If anything happened at the house, it happened before we got there,” Grey said.

Holland said after their deadly assault, the pair started searching for blankets and tarpaulin to wrap Yean in and then put him in the back of Rite’s car, breaking the boot in the process.

Again, Grey denied that happened, saying instead Rite pulled up and was ready to drop him at Huntly.

He had no idea there was a body in the boot.

Holland put to him that Rite was in “full panic mode” and Grey told him “we just need to get rid of the c***”.

“No, I didn’t say that,” Grey replied.

“Anton beat this man, beat him to death,” Grey alleged. “I seen it with my own eyes.”

But Holland said once they got to the maize paddock at Gordonton, they lifted Yean out of the boot and the blankets and dumped him in the water trough, “clearly dead”.

“He was alive. I heard him scream.”

Grey maintained he was scared of Rite because “he was a gangster”.

“Yeah, take one look at him,” Grey said.

Holland said Rite was simply “collateral damage so you can save yourself”, which Grey also denied.

Holland put to him that Rite had no role in the plotting and planning of retribution for Matatahi’s death, which he alleged was done by Grey, Rameka and Payne.

“I don’t know any of that. All I know is that he beat him out there.”

As for his yellow mask, Teki-Clark put to him he wore the same yellow mask in his social media “gangster rap video”.

Grey admitted it was him in the video but denied wearing the same mask to assault Jesse Whitiora the night before Yean’s death.

The trial continues.