Jury told 'bad guys' may not all be guilty of murder

A jury was told they might think a group of accused murderers were "a bunch of South Auckland hooligans" but they had to set aside their feelings about the fatal shooting of liquor store owner Navtej Singh and concentrate on the evidence.

Louise Freyer, representing Eti Filoa, 25, said it would also be easy to say because a man died then they "all [accused] should pay".

Filoa, Walter McCarthy, 19, Myron Robert Felise, 22, Jason Naseri, 25, Anitilea Chan Kee, 22 and Tino Faamele Felise are all charged with murdering Mr Singh during a robbery of his Manurewa liquor store on June 7, 2008.

He was shot once in the abdomen by Chan Kee as he allegedly demanded cash.

Chan Kee says the gun fired accidentally and he never meant to kill or harm Mr Singh.

The others are charged with murder because the Crown alleges they were party to the killing.

Ms Freyer said Filoa would love to turn the clock back but was not guilty of aggravated robbery and murder.

She said there was no evidence to suggest Filoa understood he was the back-up driver if anything went wrong.

Paul Borich, on behalf of Tino Felise, said the jury had heard about people who were prepared to take part in an aggravated robbery, so "it's not hard to see who the bad guys are".

The case had clear villains and heroes but it wasn't a popularity contest.

He said Felise didn't know what was going to happen the night of the robbery.

Crown evidence of Felise allegedly lying to police about being the driver did not make him guilty of murder.

"Proof of lying does not make you a murderer. People tell lies for all sorts of reasons."

He said the Crown had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Felise knew Anitilea Chan Kee had taken a loaded rifle into the store.

McCarthy's lawyer, Barry Hart, said McCarthy was in the car but he didn't drive to the liquor store and didn't get anything out of the robbery, "not even a dollar or two", unlike some Crown witnesses.

He was a follower who had no knowledge of what was going on and had been intoxicated at a party before the robbery, he said.

"I'm not looking for a sympathy vote for my client. Just look carefully at the evidence and there's not much of it."

Justice Graham Lang will sum up the trial on Monday before the jurors retire to consider their verdicts.