Christchurch gang member Enzed Beazley says he was confronting a drug dealer, not committing a robbery

Black Power member Enzed Beazley denies charges of aggravated robbery over an incident in Aranui, Christchurch.

• Enzed Beazley denies any involvement in an alleged aggravated robbery, claiming he was addressing a cannabis operation.
• The Crown alleges Beazley and Khan Mcfarlane robbed two Christchurch men of $1200, cigarettes, and an Xbox controller.
• The trial, before Judge Tom Gilbert, involves conflicting testimonies about Beazley’s intentions and Mcfarlane’s presence.

A Black Power member has denied involvement in an alleged aggravated robbery, instead claiming he was “having a word” to someone about a cannabis operation.

Enzed Beazley told a jury he visited an Aranui property near his home in Christchurch after hearing drugs were being sold from the house.

“I just heard someone down the road was selling drugs, thought I would go for a walk, I walked straight up and went to the back of the house.”

The Crown said he was at the address, but not to talk about a cannabis operation.

“Because you are a gang member you think you have a right to go around and be intimidating to people and stand over them,” Crown prosecutor Patrick Brand told him.

Beazley gave evidence on day three of his trial in the Christchurch District Court where he faces charges of aggravated robbery alongside Khan Mcfarlane.

The Crown says the patched gang members robbed two men of $1200 in cash, cigarettes and an Xbox controller. A gun was also allegedly brandished at the men.

While Mcfarlane denies being at the address and opted not to give evidence, Beazley said he lived along the road from where the incident allegedly took place in October 2023.

“I walked straight up and went to the back of the house, the gate was open at the end of the path, I just heard a noise in the garage and went to that door. The door was open, there was a guy sitting on the couch watching TV, I didn’t know who he was, I just had heard that they sold marijuana.

“Growing up in a place like that, the Black Power, that’s our area, born and raised there, the purpose of going there was to tell them to stop selling.”

The trial is being held in the Christchurch District Court.

Beazley said he was told by a man in the garage that the person he wanted to speak to would be home soon.

“I waited about five to 10 minutes, I can’t really remember what we talked about, he asked my name, and I told him who I was.”

Beazley said when the second man arrived, the first one started getting aggressive.

“I asked who he sold for. He said he sold for himself. I said he can’t do that, I asked him where the weed was, his mate got up and got aggressive.”

Beazley said he did not know why it was alleged another person was there with him.

“I don’t know really about Mcfarlane, I’ve seen him around jail; I had no contact with Mcfarlane, I only met him through jail.”

He said when the first man got up and started being aggressive, they were waving a machete around.

Beazley said the second man gave him a container of cannabis, after which he left the property.

“I don’t know why they are saying I took an Xbox controller or jewellery.

“I didn’t take anything, it wasn’t money that I took. If it was my intention to rob, I would have gone there at night and had my face covered.

“I walked back to my house down the road, he just handed me the weed, and said ‘here, just go’.”

Brand asked Beazley who had told him that drugs were being sold from the property.

Beazley said he would not disclose that information.

“I was told that someone down the road was selling weed, they gave me the address and names. It was actually a mutual friend who told me, I was just interested who was there selling the weed, I don’t really like drug dealers in my hood.”

Similar offending

Brand said Beazley had been involved in similar offending in 2020, describing the incident as “brazen” where he made no effort to conceal his identity.

He suggested Beazley had other motives for going to the property and was concerned about activity that might be cutting into the gang’s profits.

“It had nothing to do with protecting the order of things, my gang could be, or couldn’t be selling things, I’m just a patch member,” Beazley replied.

He denied being at the address with another patched Black Power member.

He accepted having a history of standing over people and one conviction in 2020.

“It was pretty brazen, the conviction you have in 2020 for a standover was pretty brazen,” Brand told him.

Brand said once the first man became aggressive in the 2023 incident, another man entered the garage and pointed a firearm at him.

“It put the wind in your sails, you took $1200 off him, and you put it in the pocket of your vest.”

Beazley said he did not have pockets in his vest.

Beazley’s defence lawyer April Kelland then called two witnesses for the defence.

The first witness said he had seen a man at the property selling cigarettes and drugs to children and had seen people knock on the door and be given cannabis and cigarettes.

“I seen them holding a bag of cannabis and cigarettes, they had it in their hands, a small bag with green nuggets in it.”

Brand then asked him how he had come to be involved in the case.

He said he had spoken with Beazley’s mother.

“I had spoken to Enzed’s mother, I don’t personally know Mr Beazley. I don’t recall how this came about, just conversation in the hood, I don’t see Mr Beazley’s mother regularly.”

The second witness said she also lived in Aranui and had been to the house in 2023 and 2024, taking a friend there to buy marijuana and cigarettes.

She said she had been there four times and two males were there who had cigarettes and cannabis and sold them to her friend.

She said she briefly knew Beazley and had spoken with his defence lawyer about giving evidence.

In summing up, Brand said the case rested on Beazley being at the property with someone else.

“What is clear from the evidence of the complainant is that there were two offenders, while there was no violence, there were threats of violence, the evidence of interplay between two offenders showed they acted together.

“This was a classic standover by two gang members, it was refuted that cannabis was being sold from the address.

“On no level was it appropriate for Mr Beazley to visit the property and bail these people up, this is a classic aggravated robbery.”

He said the 111 call, played to the court mirrored the evidence heard in court.

“What was clear was the level of shock in the 111 call.”

Mcfarlane: A circumstantial case

The case against Mcfarlane was described as a circumstantial one, he was linked to Black Power and he was arrested later and found with a gang patch.

“The broad physical description fits Mcfarlane, the assertion by both complainants that he had a tā moko.”

Brand said Mcfarlane was later found with a distinctive single-shot firearm that was identified as the one used in the alleged robbery.

“Mcfarlane was present and acted with Beazley.”

Beazley’s previous conviction for robbery also showed similar things were taken while another person was present, Brand said.

“The circumstances of the robbery were similar, why would the complainants make a complaint to get their cannabis back?”

Mcfarlane‘s lawyer Thomas Harré said his client had nothing to do with the alleged incident and there was no evidence to prove his involvement.

The two complainants had inconsistent stories and neither of them knew who the mystery person was, he said.

“The only thing the complainants could see was a section of the mystery man’s nose,” Harré said.

“It doesn’t hold up, you would be guessing, not analysing.

“We say Mr Mcfarlane wasn’t there and doesn’t know about this incident.”

Kelland told the jury there were different stories about what happened.

“If you believed Mr Beazley when he said he did not rob them, you have to find him not guilty.

“If you feel you can’t be sure what happened in the garage then you must return a not guilty verdict.

“You have a highly prejudicial conviction before you, it was a conviction in 2020; at the time he was immersed in drugs, he had a drug problem. This was in his own neighbourhood, he was trying to sort out a problem, you don’t call police about these problems, any problems in the neighbourhood get dealt with in the neighbourhood.”

She said Beazley was upfront about his gang membership and prejudice had no place in assessing justice.

“You cannot believe the complainants, we say they lied.

“The basis of the complainant’s evidence is the two men went to their residence to rob them, what would people have in the garage that would be worth stealing?

“The story about him going there to stop the man dealing is plausible.

“He went there by himself.”

The trial is being heard by a jury of seven women and five men before Judge Tom Gilbert and is set down for four days.

Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the HC Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of Cook Islands News.