Gang associate killed in ambush, court told

Two armed Mongrel Mob members dressed in camouflage waited in a paddock to open fire on a Black Power convoy fatally shooting a gang associate, the High Court at Wellington has been told.

The Wairoa killing was part of a turf war between the two gangs over the eastern coast town.

Almost two years after Henry William Waihape was killed, three Mongrel Mob members yesterday went on trial for his murder.

Wairoa Mongrel Mob president Rangi Wainohu Tamati, 44, Kenneth Andre Te Kahu, 33, of Wairoa, and Jeremy Kevin Wilfred Hatley, 25, of Napier, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Waihape and conspiring to pervert the cause of justice.

Mr Waihape was shot dead on November 27, 2003 as he travelled in a van with Black Power members from Wairoa to Frasertown following a massive brawl between 70 members of the two gangs outside the Wairoa courthouse earlier that day.

The Crown alleges that on the instruction of Tamati, Te Kahu and Hatley donned camouflage uniforms, armed themselves with rifles and waited for a convoy of Black Power members to pass by on their way back to their Frasertown headquarters, 8km north of Wairoa.

Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins said yesterday the brawl and shooting were a result of an "arm wrestle" between the two gangs for control of Wairoa.

The Mongrel Mob considered Wairoa their turf and had acted in retaliation for the fight in which they were outnumbered by 20 to 50.

Wairoa Sergeant Aubrey Ormond said a "wave" of Black Power members arrived at the courthouse about 11.20am, on November 27, 2003.

The brawl began when a Black Power member threw a rock at the smaller Mongrel Mob group. The fight was over in about five or 10 minutes.

"There are ongoing problems between the two groups in the area," he told the court.

Although police had requested members of the two gangs not be scheduled to appear on the same day, members from both gangs were due before the court.

Police responded by calling in extra officers from Gisborne, Mr Ormond said.

Under cross examination by Tamati's lawyer Mike Antunovic, he said after the fight the Black Power contingent moved from the courthouse into the town where there was a confrontation outside a green grocer.

Asked if police -- who numbered about 10 officers -- were powerless, he replied: "We were heavily outnumbered but we attended incidents as they were reported."

The trial before a jury of three women and nine men is expected to take two weeks and was continuing today.

- NZPA