Daniel Nelson Sparks and Joshua David Craig Smith are charged with murdering Connor Whitehead. Photo / George Heard
Daniel Nelson Sparks and Joshua David Craig Smith are charged with murdering Connor Whitehead. Photo / George Heard
A teenager yelled “just shoot me” at a man who was allegedly pointing a gun at him during a confrontation that resulted in an innocent bystander being shot, a jury has heard.
Connor Whitehead, 16, was shot dead at the party in the northern Christchurch suburb of Casebrook on November 5, 2021.
Two men, Daniel Nelson Sparks and Joshua David Craig Smith, are charged with murdering Whitehead.
On Monday, a three-week jury trial began in the High Court at Christchurch before Justice Melanie Harland. The pair pleaded not guilty to the charges before the trial began.
On Tuesday, the jury heard from one of the teenage partygoers.
The fighting appeared to stop and she went back to the reserve.
A shortwhile later she heard more noises coming from the party.
From left, Daniel Nelson Sparks and Joshua David Craig Smith, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Connor Whitehead. Photo / George Heard
At some stage she saw a man with a gun and said he was pointing it at one of the teens.
The teen, who the partygoer heard mention the Neighbourhood Crips (NHC) gang, and the man with the gun who had mentioned Black Power were talking “quite aggressively”.
She said the teen yelled at the man with the gun “just shoot me”.
She did not see the gunshot go off but heard it.
Earlier on Tuesday, Korin Steedman, the mother of the 15-year-old who was having the party, continued to give evidence.
She said the party spiralled out of control after uninvited guests turned up, including members of the Crips gang.
She said her son had gone to a boy who had stolen a drink from her sister. The boy asked her son if they had a problem, if they did he would stab her son, she said.
The Crown alleges both men received that call by arming themselves with loaded firearms - a Stevens shotgun and a Mossberg shotgun in Smith’s VW Golf.
About 11pm the two accused men arrived at the party. Sparks’ son pointed out the group of people acting aggressively towards him. Sparks approached them and there was a verbal argument. Gang signs were pulled and there was yelling.
After the men arrived Steedman heard kids screaming, “He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun”.
She then heard a gunshot and “freaked out”, hid behind a tree and heard another shot.
Steedman cried in court when she said what followed after the car left. She walked up to where people were crowding around Whitehead.
She didn’t know he had been shot, but was holding him, telling him it was “going to be OK”. She also told the group crowding him to go away.
Whitehead was lying on the ground outside the kitchen window.
She had not met Whitehead before that evening, but spoke to him and said he was a “very polite young man”.
Worried the men may return she eventually went back inside and paramedics arrived and assisted Whitehead.
Under cross-examination by Smith’s lawyer James Rapley KC, Steedman said she attended to about three teens who were assaulted by a group of about six Crips gang members, with one boy suffering a bleeding nose.
Steedman earlier told the jury she was expecting only 10-20 people would arrive at the party.
Her daughter’s friends began arriving about 8pm, with partygoers initially hanging out in her children’s bedrooms as well as the deck.
The partygoers were socialising and drinking, and were not causing any concerns at this point, she said.
From there “everybody started coming, then it started to get out of control” as uninvited people started turning up about 10pm.
It was so full Steedman could not walk through her house properly. She estimated between 60-80 people were at the party.
Crown prosecutor Aaron Harvey began the trial on Monday before six men and six women by opening the Crown’s case against the pair.
The Crown case is that two shots were fired, one by each of the firearms, one by each of the defendants.
Connor Whitehead, 16, was attending a 15-year-old's birthday party when he died.
The two shots were about six seconds apart. The Crown says the most likely scenario is that Smith fired the fatal shot that struck Whitehead and that Sparks fired a shot from the Mossberg into the air, likely from the car.
Whitehead was shot in the chest and killed, his injuries not survivable.
There was no suggestion Whitehead was at all involved in the disorder and was standing between 9 to 12 metres away when the firearm was discharged at him.
After the second shot was fired the two men left the scene.
Connor Whitehead's father, James Whitehead, arrives at court ahead of the three-week murder trial. Photo / George Heard
Following the fatal shooting police used emergency powers to intercept calls. A few hours after the shooting a call was intercepted between Sparks, Smith, and an associate.
Smith said he had a run-in with the Crips, with 30 or 40 of them coming out of nowhere and surrounding them. Shots were fired, and someone may have been hit.
In his interview, Smith said he did not fire any shots. Sparks said he got out of the car and while out of the car heard a shot being fired. After he heard the shot being fired he got his firearm and fired a shot in the air before they left.
Harvey said both men could be found guilty of murder, regardless of who fired the fatal shot.
Smith’s lawyer, Daniel Kirby, said he accepted it was his fault, and that he was responsible for Whitehead’s death.
However, he said his client was guilty of manslaughter, not murder.
Joshua David Craig Smith is charged with murdering Connor Whitehead. Photo / George Heard
“Mr Smith never intended to kill Connor. He never intended to cause Connor bodily harm, and he never thought that Connor or anyone else would be likely to die.”
He said Smith did lie in his police interview from his hospital bed, but that just because he lied did not mean he was a murderer.
Sparks’ lawyer, Nicola Pointer, said he was not guilty of murder. He did not fire the fatal shot, and he had no idea things would unfold the way they did, she said.
“What occurred went well beyond any common purpose that could’ve existed between the men when they travelled to the party.”
Sparks said he got a distressed call from his son asking for help.
He heard a gunshot, quickly returned to the car, and grabbed the Mossberg, discharging a round into the air to scatter the crowd forming so they could leave.
