Hammer killed dealer, 14, jury told

A 14-year-old South Auckland cannabis dealer was killed by a blow on the head with a hammer after failing to make payments on an air-gun, a jury heard yesterday.

Nathan Tuiti Reo Mutunga Williams, 26, and Daniel Bobby Tumata, 25, appeared in the High Court at Auckland charged with murdering John Hapeta.

Williams and Tumata also face one other charge, with a 17-year-old youth who has name suppression, of assault with intent to rob.

Prosecutor Ben Finn told the jury that John Hapeta died after two men armed with a gun and a hammer gatecrashed a birthday party at his family home in the Manukau City suburb of Weymouth on August 12 last year.

The men, who had bandannas covering their faces, assaulted John Hapeta's friend Christopher Burns in the garden, Mr Finn said.

The men grabbed him and demanded drugs. When he said he didn't have any, he was hit on the back of the head with a blunt object.

A short time later, John Hapeta was hit on the head with a hammer.

By the time police arrived at the house about 9pm, he was dead.

"His skull was caved in by the force of the hammer blow," Mr Finn told the jury.

The 17-year-old was not at the scene but is accused of encouraging Williams and Tumata to steal cannabis from John Hapeta.

Two days before he was killed, John Hapeta bought an air-gun from another boy, who wanted to be paid in cannabis.

John Hapeta's father later told police his son had told him he had been threatened and got into an argument with the other boy.

Mr Finn said Williams struck the fatal blow but Tumata was also liable for murder by actively assisting Williams.

Shane Cassidy, defending the 17-year-old, said his client did not encourage the tragedy.

The trial is expected to last two weeks.

- NZPA