KEY POINTS:
A man accused of killing two people outside a party last year did so because God told him to do something to get away from people chasing him, the Crown said today.
Twenty-two-year-old Lipine Sila, a factory hand, pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder and eight of causing grievous bodily harm, at the High Court in Christchurch.
He is alleged to have driven into a crowd outside the scene of a party on Christchurch's Edgeware Rd on May 5 last year, hitting 28 people.
Sixteen-year-olds Hannah Rossiter and Jane Young were killed.
Prosecutor Anne Toohey says Sila was involved in an altercation with other attendees of a massive party on Edgeware Rd.
She says shortly before 11pm he got into his car, revved the engine, put his foot to the floor and drove through a crowd of people.
"The accused changed lanes so he was driving on the wrong side of the road.
"And on that side of the road, was the greatest number of people outside the party," Ms Toohey said.
Ms Toohey says a witness will give evidence about a conversation she had with Sila after the smash.
"He told her that God had told him to do something to get away from people chasing him. He also told her he had run over some people."
Ms Toohey adds that Sila told police he was the one driving and that he had hit people.
During the Crown's opening to the five-week trial before Justice John Fogarty, the jury was given a photo booklet detailing where all the dead and injured lay in the roadway after the Honda car hit them.
The Crown will call 65 witnesses during the trial, and another 18 possible witnesses were named for the jury panel before the selection process today. Evidence of police exhibits was being heard this afternoon, and the jury will be taken by bus to the scene of the incident tomorrow morning.
Crown prosecutor Anne Toohey said details of the birthday party had been spread widely by text messages during the week before it took place and many who turned up had not been invited.
Sila and his brother Benjamin and two associates had arrived about 10.30pm. They had been drinking.
Police were already nearby and when the incident happened they had made the decision to close down the party because so many people were spilling on to Edgeware Road.
Ben Sila was in the roadway, challenging people to fight and threw a bottle which smashed the rear windscreen of a parked car.
Joseph Muir took exception and began to fight with Ben Sila and one of his associates. Ben Sila ran away and Mr Muir chased him but could not catch him.
Lipine Sila was hit with a bottle on the ear during the fight. The cut bled but did not need medical attention.
About 11pm, more people spilled out of the house on to the road to see the fight, and because it had been announced the police were coming to close down the party.
Ms Toohey said Sila was at the Honda car when Mr Muir noticed him, shoulder-charged him, hit him, and a fight developed.
Afterwards, Sila was seen to get into the car, looking angry but walking in a casual way.
"Crown witnesses are consistent that at this time there was no one around the car, trying to get into the car, and the accused was not under attack."
She said Sila "floored" the accelerator and drove into the people ahead rather than doing a U-turn where the road was clear. After he hit one group, he did not turn left into Manchester Street but carried on forward into another group in front of the party house, on the wrong side of the road.
Miss Toohey detailed the injuries to those hit by the car, and said the two 16-year-old girls killed in the crash, Jane Ada Young and Hannah Perkins Rossiter, had both suffered serious head injuries and died in hospital.
Sila drove off at speed, pulling his broken windscreen out of the way with his hand. He had two more crashes with other vehicles along nearby Westminster Street, and continued drinking before police called at a Mairehau suburb house and found him about four hours after the incident.
"You have to ask yourselves why he had his foot to the floor and swerved into people," Ms Toohey said.
"He didn't hit any cars (at Edgeware Road). Anything that could have done damage to his own car was avoided. You may get the impression by the end of the case that the accused was aiming for people."
- NZPA, TRN
