The man who police claim reaps the rewards as boss of the Head Hunters has taken to the witness box to say cops have it wrong. George Block reports.
Wayne Doyle is not the “Teflon Don” of the Head Hunters, somehow staying clean of any criminal charges while members earn his money through drug dealing and stand-overs, his lawyer Ron Mansfield KC says.
Instead, Doyle is simply a senior member of the motorcycle club’s committee who also served as police liaison because of his mana and level-headed approach, Mansfield says.
On Friday, after nearly two weeks of police evidence, Mansfield opened the case of the man nicknamed “chief” at the centre of a civil trial at the Auckland High Court.
His first witness was Doyle, who has not been charged with, let alone convicted of any crime since he was last released from prison in 2001.
Nor has he ever been recalled to prison for breaching the conditions of the terms of his life parole.
He was cross-examined by prosecutor Mark Harborow for several hours on Friday and will return to the witness box on Tuesday.
Doyle, now 68 and a great-grandfather, condemned methamphetamine and its effects. When he entered the witness box he described his occupation as pensioner.
He described how he effectively grew up in prisons but said he now has no need for much money and lives a simple life focused on family.
The Police Commissioner is attempting to force him to forfeit assets allegedly tainted with the ill-gotten gains of Head Hunters members using the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act.
Police are seeking profit forfeiture orders totalling more than $15 million against Doyle and are targeting five properties, including the sprawling pad and gym of the Head Hunters East chapter at 232 Marua Rd, Ellerslie.
Under the Act, police do not need a conviction.
They only need to show someone profited from crime under the lower standard of proof used in civil cases - “on the balance of probabilities” - rather than the “beyond reasonable doubt” standard in criminal trials.
The judge-alone trial before Justice Peter Andrew has heard from several detectives who said Doyle is the effective president of the Head Hunters, though they conceded the title is not used by the gang’s East Chapter, which lacks the formalised rank structure of other outlaw motorcycle clubs.
They claim Doyle receives a cut of the proceeds of its members’ criminal endeavours, such as meth dealing and “taxings” - where criminals are extorted of their money or possessions by gang members who know their victims aren’t going to go to the police.
The detectives said Head Hunters are required to pay 20 per cent of their earnings to the organisation.
The prosecution claimed Doyle, as the alleged head of the gang, must have received a substantial cut to amass his wealth, given the only substantial source of declared legitimate income since his release was Ministry of Social Development benefits.
Mansfield told Justice Andrew entities linked to Doyle received legitimate income via tickets to Head Hunters-organised fight nights, merchandise sales, lottery tickets, rent and loans.
“Mr Doyle, Sir, is not the Teflon Don that the Commissioner is seeking to make him out to be,” he said.
“That is because he’s not the Don of an organised criminal group.
“He’s not a president. He’s not the leader. And he’s not the chief, although a nickname for him is chief.”
Since his release in 2001 he had not been involved in any criminal offending, because to do so would have led to his recall to prison under the terms of his life parole, Mansfield said.
Instead he had preferred to focus on his family.
And the Head Hunters were part of that family, Mansfield said.
He said many people join gangs because they lack the ordinary family or support networks and it was simplistic to focus on their negative aspects.
Doyle played a pastoral role, Mansfield said, showing an interest in helping junior members with everything from sport to their legal cases.
“He doesn’t hold himself out as the president,” Mansfield said.
“He’s simply, for want of a better way of putting it, an elder statesman involved in the management of the club.”
Under cross-examination from Harborow, Doyle said he had been associated with the Head Hunters since the 1970s.
Asked about a comment he allegedly made to a detective of the era, saying he was the acting president, Doyle said he was joking.
“I think in those days there were about eight of us and we’d all been locked up. I was the last one to be locked up.”
In 1985 he was imprisoned for murder after a brawl between the Head Hunters and King Cobras (KCs)
Discussing that day, Doyle said “one of our guys” had a run-in with a KC at a pub and the pair arranged a one-on-one fight at Victoria Park in central Auckland.
“We went in support of our guy and they went in support of their guy.”
Doyle said on the way they stopped in Ponsonby, the KCs’ traditional turf, to speak to the gang’s president.
As the Head Hunters walked up a back street they came across some KCs and all hell broke loose. Graham “Choc” Te Awa and Doyle were convicted of murdering Siaso Evalu.
An officer involved in the inquiry earlier told the Herald Doyle wasn’t physically tied to the murder but he went down for refusing say who was involved.
In 1994 he was paroled and later found work for a towing company. He enjoyed the job, but it came to an end when police spoke to the owner and said it wasn’t a good idea to employ Doyle if they wanted to keep getting the motorway contracts, Doyle claimed.
A few years later he was back before the courts and was jailed for supplying LSD.
Upon his release in 2001 he resolved not to go back behind bars, having already spent a big chunk of his life in prison, he said.
“I just needed to stay out of trouble,” Doyle said.
The Head Hunters moved into 232 Marua Rd around that time and Doyle was one of the founding members of the East chapter.
Doyle also helped start the That Was Then, This Is Now charitable trust with the stated goal of helping prisoners reintegrate into the community, though the police say it is the Head Hunters in all but name.
A key issue in the trial has been the committee that police say runs the club, with Doyle at its head calling the shots.
Doyle said there is no ranking in the committee and no single person calls the shots. All of the hundreds of patched members are eligible, he said.
On days when the committee meets, everyone heads downstairs at Marua Rd and the first order of business is for members to nominate anyone they think should receive a patch, which is then put to a vote.
They then raise other club activities, including upcoming parties or motorcycle runs, Doyle said.
“Nothing criminal is discussed in those meetings.”
Doyle rejected Harborow’s assertion it was common for people wanting a patch to pay money earned from stand-overs - dubbed “taxings” - or drug dealing back into the club.
But he agreed he had a role sorting out disputes.
Through his years in prison he had come to know members of various gangs and formed friendships with people from all walks of life, he said.
On rare occasions, the Head Hunters had hosted meetings at Marua Rd aimed at defusing conflicts between gangs, he said.
“In prison you gained a real degree of mana, didn’t you?” Harborow said.
“I wouldn’t want to say that about myself,” Doyle replied.
“People have got to give you mana. You can’t just say that you’ve got it.
“I’ve never asked for it, and I don’t expect it.”
Doyle said he took an interest in the criminal cases involving some Head Hunters and would sometimes read the disclosure documents provided to their lawyers.
But in other cases he had no interest, and there were members of the gang he did not hold in high regard, he said.
“In any group of people, there’s ones who don’t cause you trouble and others that will always cause you trouble.”
Doyle described one such member who, in his words, was “exited” from the club.
“He got thrown out for basically his continued drug abuse and his domestic violence,” he said.
“He just wasn’t looking after his family properly.”
Harborow said that former member once claimed that if he received $100,000 collecting debts, the creditor would receive $60,000, he would receive $20,000 and the Head Hunters would get the rest as koha.
“One hundred per cent not correct,” Doyle said.
“I don’t get any koha from criminal activity. I don’t want koha from criminal activity.”
Doyle said most Head Hunters are not in the drug trade.
“Most of the members look after their families, they go to work, they’re good people.”
But he said the club was not about to abandon members such as William “Bird” Hines, convicted in 2017 of running a methamphetamine syndicate and released from prison early on compassionate grounds due to his ailing health.
Hines is held in extremely high esteem by the club, which has the message “In Bird We Trust” on the wall of the Marua Rd pad. Doyle repeatedly spoke warmly of Hines, describing him as a “unique, amazing sort of a character”.
“How do you throw your friends out that have been beside you for years and years and years?” Doyle said.
“You don’t just throw someone out because they get into trouble. You’ve got to stand by them.”
The trial continues.
The man is now in a critical but stable condition in hospital.